Introduzione

Usiamo i pronomi riflessivi per l'oggetto di una frase quando l'oggetto è lo stesso del soggetto.

• Usiamo i pronomi riflessivi anzichè il pronome oggetto:
  • "I look at myself in the mirror." (non "I look at me in the mirror.")
  • "I bought something for myself." (non "I bought something for me.")
    "I" è sia il soggetto che l'oggetto. Se l'oggetto è diverso, usiamo un pronome oggetto: "I look at him in the mirror." o "I bought something for him."
     
• Usiamo i pronomi riflessivi per evidenziare il soggetto che compie l'azione:
  • "I drove the car myself."
    Io ho guidato la macchina, non qualcun altro.
     
• Usiamo i pronomi riflessivi con "by" per evidenziare il soggetto e non un'altra persona, o per dire "da solo" (per "da solo", dobbiamo usare "by"):
  • "I drove the car by myself."
    Ho guidato io, non qualcun altro oEro da solo quando ho guidato la macchina.
  • "She waited in the room by herself." (non "She waited in the room herself.")
    Ha aspettato nella stanza da sola.

Forma

Questa tabella mostra il pronome riflessivo per ogni soggetto:

soggetto	pronome riflessivo
I	myself
you (singular) you (plural)	yourself yourselves
we	ourselves
they	themselves
she	herself
he	himself
it	itself

Se usiamo by, va subito prima del pronome riflessivo:

soggetto	azione	(by)	pronome riflessivo
I	did it	(by)	myself.
You (singular) You (plural)			yourself. yourselves.
We			ourselves.
They			themselves.
She			herself.
He			himself.
It			itself.

Esempi:

• Sarah could see herself in the reflection.
  The subject and the object are the same person. (not "She could see by herself" … or "Sarah could see her.")
   
• He did the work himself.
  He did the work, no one else.
   
• He did the work by himself.
  He did the work, no one else, or he was alone when he did the work.
   
• I don’t want to go to the party by myself.
  I don’t want to go to the party alone (note that "I don’t want to go to the party myself" means something different. This means: Personally (if I speak for myself), I don’t want to go to the party.)
   

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Pratica

Completa le frasi con il pronome riflessivo corretto con by se necessario:

• Simon taught to play the guitar.
   
• Sarah asked me to go the cinema with her because she doesn't want to go .
   
• They said they would help but they didn't so I had to clean the house .
   
• We didn’t use an agent. We planned the trip .
   

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Ulteriore pratica

Scegli la risposta corretta per completare la frase: a, b, c o d.

• Experts are not sure if the artist painted all the pictures ____.


themselves itself ourselves himself



• I like to sing to ____ when I’m cooking


herself myself himself itself



• She likes to study with the other students but sometimes she prefers to study ____.


by herself herself himself by themselves



• The machine is automatic. It turns ____ off if no one uses it.


by itself by themselves themselves itself



• The garden looks beautiful. Did you do all the work ____.


itself by itself by yourself himself 



• The residents had to collect the rubbish ____.


by ourselves themselves itself by itself

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