Themselves

English

Pronoun

Themselves personal pronoun

1. (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) The people previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition, where the people are also the subject of the verb; also used for emphasis.

   (reflexively): They’ve hurt themselves.

   (after a preposition): They fought among themselves.

   (for emphasis): They are going to try climbing Mount Everest themselves.

2. The person of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition, where the person is also the subject of the verb; also used for emphasis.
   • 1611, King James Bible, Philippians 2.3:

     Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

   (reflexively): Would whoever stole my phone please make themselves known.

   (after a preposition): They’ve brought this on themselves.

   (for emphasis): The children did this themselves.

Notes

• For notes on the usage referring to a person of unspecified gender, see the usage notes for they.

Synonyms

• (non-gender-specific, singular): themself
• (gender-specific, singular): himself, herself

See also

English personal pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Subject	Objective	Reflexive	Possessive	Possessive Pronoun
Singular	First	—	I	me	myself	my	mine
	Second	—	you, thou (archaic)	you, thee (archaic)	yourself, thyself (archaic) theeself (archaic)	your, thy (archaic)	yours, thine (archaic)
	Third	Masculine	he	him	himself	his
		Feminine	she	her	herself	her	hers
		Neuter	it		itself	its	its (rare)
Plural	First	—	we	us	ourselves	our	ours
	Second	—	you, ye (archaic)	you	yourselves	your	yours
	Third	—	they	them	themselves	their	theirs
Indefinite	Third	—	one		oneself	one's	—

Thesaurus

I, I myself, alter, alter ego, alterum, better self, ego, ethical self, he, her, herself, him, himself, inner man, inner self, it, me, my humble self, myself, number one, oneself, other self, ourselves, self, she, subconscious self, subliminal self, superego, them, they, you, yours truly, yourself, yourselves

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ðɛmˈsɛlvz/, SAMPA: /DEm"sElvz/

• Audio (US)

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  (file)

• Hyphenation: them‧selves

Translations

the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun

Catalan: es (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 他們自己, 他们自己 (tāmen zìjǐ) Finnish: itsensä, itseään; keskenään; itse French: (reflexive) se (fr), (for emphasis) eux-mêmes (fr) m., (for emphasis) elles-mêmes (fr)

Hungarian: maguk (hu), magukat (hu) Japanese: 彼ら自身 (ja) (karera-jishin) Latin: ipsi (la) m., ipsae (la) f., ipsa (la) n. Russian: себя (ru) (s'eb'á) Spanish: ellos mismos (es)

the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition

Catalan: mateixos (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 他們自己, 他们自己 (tāmen zìjǐ) Finnish: itsensä, itseään; itselleen; itse Hungarian: önmaguk (hu), önmagukat (hu)

Japanese: 彼ら自身 (ja) (karera-jishin) Latin: (acc) ipsos (la) m., (acc) ipsas (la) f., (acc) ipsa (la) n., (dative and ablative) ipsis (la) m., f., and n. Russian: себя (ru) (s'eb'á) Volapük: okis (vo)

The translations below need to be checked.

Translations to be checked

Arabic: انفسهم (anfúsahum) Dutch: zichzelf French: eux-mêmes German: sich selber

Italian: essi stessi Korean: 그들 자신 (geudeul jasin) Portuguese: eles mesmos Spanish: ellos mismos Swedish: sig själva

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: power · mother · often · #266: themselves · half · certain · sent