Reflexive Verbs in Norwegian

In Brief

Norwegian reflexive verbs use a pronoun that points back to the subject: Jeg vasker meg means “I wash myself.” Use meg, deg, oss and dere with the matching persons, but use seg for all third-person subjects. Learn frequent expressions as complete units, because Norwegian often has a reflexive pronoun where English has none: føle seg trøtt (“feel tired”), sette seg (“sit down”) and gifte seg (“get married”).

Overview

A reflexive construction describes an action or state that returns to the subject (the person or thing the sentence is about). In Hun vasker seg, hun performs the washing and seg refers back to the same person. The reflexive pronoun is the short word that creates this connection.

This is normally introduced at A2. You can already use the present tense; now you add the correct pronoun and learn which verbs naturally occur with it. Reflexive expressions are common in conversations about daily routines, movement, feelings and relationships. You will hear phrases such as kle på seg (“get dressed”), legge seg (“go to bed”), føle seg bra (“feel well”) and glede seg (“look forward to something”).

English is only a partial guide. Sometimes both languages make the reflexive meaning visible: Jeg skadet meg is “I hurt myself.” Often, however, English leaves “myself” out: Hun setter seg is simply “She sits down.” It is therefore safer to learn å sette seg as one vocabulary item than to translate sette word by word.

How It Works

Choose the pronoun that matches the subject

The subject determines the reflexive pronoun. The verb does not change for grammatical person in Norwegian, but the pronoun does.

Subject	Reflexive form	Example	English
jeg	meg	Jeg vasker meg.	I wash myself.
du	deg	Du vasker deg.	You wash yourself.
han / hun / den / det	seg	Hun vasker seg.	She washes herself.
vi	oss	Vi vasker oss.	We wash ourselves.
dere	dere	Dere vasker dere.	You wash yourselves.
de	seg	De vasker seg.	They wash themselves.

A noun can also be the subject: Katten vasker seg (“The cat washes itself”) and Barna gleder seg (“The children are looking forward to it”). Seg is the reflexive form for every third-person subject, singular or plural. It does not show gender.

For the first and second persons, the forms are identical to the ordinary object pronouns. Context tells you whether they refer back to the subject:

• Jeg vasker meg. — I wash myself; jeg and meg are the same person.
• Hun vasker meg. — She washes me; hun and meg are different people, so this is not reflexive.

The basic sentence pattern

In a simple statement, place the reflexive pronoun after the verb:

subject + verb + reflexive pronoun

• Jeg skynder meg. — I hurry.
• Han barberer seg. — He shaves.
• Vi setter oss. — We sit down.

Other words may complete the expression. An adjective (a describing word) often follows føle seg: Hun føler seg trygg (“She feels safe”). Some verbs use a particle, a short word closely connected to the verb: sette seg ned (“sit down”), kle på seg (“get dressed”) and ta seg av (“take care of”). Learn the whole combination, including the particle or preposition.

Common reflexive expressions

Dictionary form	Usual English meaning	Typical completion
å vaske seg	to wash	om morgenen
å barbere seg	to shave	—
å kle på seg	to get dressed	raskt
å sette seg (ned)	to sit down	på stolen
å legge seg	to go to bed / lie down	tidlig
å føle seg	to feel	adjective: trøtt, trygg, frisk
å glede seg til	to look forward to	noun or event: ferien
å skynde seg	to hurry	—
å bestemme seg for	to decide on / decide to	noun or å + infinitive
å gifte seg	to get married	often med someone
å oppføre seg	to behave	pent, dårlig
å ta seg av	to take care of	person or task

The infinitive is the dictionary form of a verb. With these expressions, write the third-person placeholder seg in the dictionary form: å vaske seg. In a sentence, replace seg when necessary: Jeg vasker meg, du vasker deg, vi vasker oss.

Questions, negation and inversion

In a yes/no question, the finite verb (the verb carrying tense) comes before the subject. The reflexive pronoun remains later:

• Føler du deg bedre? — Do you feel better?
• Har de giftet seg? — Have they got married?

In a main clause, ikke normally follows the reflexive pronoun:

• Jeg føler meg ikke bra. — I do not feel well.
• Han skynder seg ikke. — He is not hurrying.

Norwegian has V2 word order: in a statement, the finite verb takes the second position even when another element begins the sentence. The reflexive pronoun stays with the rest of the verb phrase:

• Om morgenen vasker jeg meg. — In the morning I wash.
• I dag føler hun seg bedre. — Today she feels better.

In a subordinate clause (a clause that depends on another part of the sentence), ikke comes before the finite verb, but the reflexive pronoun still follows the lexical verb:

• Jeg blir hjemme fordi jeg ikke føler meg bra. — I am staying home because I do not feel well.

Infinitives, modal verbs and perfect forms

With an infinitive, the reflexive pronoun follows that infinitive:

• Det er viktig å vaske seg. — It is important to wash.
• Hun prøver å roe seg. — She is trying to calm down.

After a modal verb such as må (“must”) or kan (“can”), Norwegian omits å. The pronoun follows the main infinitive:

• Jeg må skynde meg. — I have to hurry.
• Dere kan sette dere her. — You can sit here.

In the perfect tense, use har plus the past participle (the verb form used after har), followed by the reflexive pronoun:

• Hun har lagt seg. — She has gone to bed.
• De har bestemt seg. — They have decided.

Commands

A positive command uses the imperative, the command form, followed by the matching pronoun:

• Sett deg ned! — Sit down! (one person)
• Sett dere ned! — Sit down! (more than one person)
• Skynd deg! — Hurry up!
• Ro dere ned! — Calm down!

Norwegian does not normally state du or dere as the subject in a direct command. The reflexive pronoun makes the intended number clear.

Examples in Context

Norwegian	English	Note
Jeg vasker meg før frokost.	I wash before breakfast.	Daily routine; English omits “myself.”
Du må kle på deg før vi går.	You have to get dressed before we leave.	deg matches du.
Hun føler seg trøtt etter jobb.	She feels tired after work.	føle seg + adjective
Han barberer seg hver morgen.	He shaves every morning.	Third person uses seg.
Vi setter oss ved vinduet.	We sit down by the window.	oss matches vi.
Føler dere dere klare?	Do you all feel ready?	The first dere is the subject; the second is reflexive.
Barna gleder seg til ferien.	The children are looking forward to the holiday.	glede seg til + noun
Jeg har bestemt meg for å lære norsk.	I have decided to learn Norwegian.	bestemme seg for å + infinitive
De gifter seg i august.	They are getting married in August.	A common life event expression
Sett deg ned, så henter jeg kaffe.	Sit down, and I’ll get coffee.	Singular command
Hun skadet seg på trening.	She hurt herself during training.	Clearly reflexive in both languages
Vi skynder oss fordi bussen kommer.	We are hurrying because the bus is coming.	Present tense
Han legger seg vanligvis klokka elleve.	He usually goes to bed at eleven.	legge seg means go to bed
Jeg blir hjemme fordi jeg ikke føler meg bra.	I’m staying home because I don’t feel well.	ikke precedes the verb in the subordinate clause
De har tatt seg av problemet.	They have dealt with the problem.	ta seg av can mean take care of or deal with

Common Mistakes

Using seg with every subject

• Wrong: Jeg vasker seg.
• Right: Jeg vasker meg.
• Why: Seg belongs only with a third-person subject. Match jeg–meg, du–deg, vi–oss and dere–dere.

Leaving out a pronoun because English does

• Wrong: Hun føler trøtt.
• Right: Hun føler seg trøtt.
• Why: English says “She feels tired,” but this Norwegian meaning requires føle seg before the adjective. Without seg, føle is commonly transitive: føle smerte (“feel pain”) or føle press (“feel pressure”).

Translating “sit down” as only sette ned

• Wrong: Jeg setter ned.
• Right: Jeg setter meg ned.
• Why: sette normally means to put or set something somewhere. Seg makes the subject the person who changes into a sitting position. Compare Jeg setter koppen ned (“I put the cup down”).

Choosing the pronoun from the nearest noun

• Wrong: Maria og jeg gleder seg til turen.
• Right: Maria og jeg gleder oss til turen.
• Why: The complete subject means “we,” so the required form is oss.

Putting ikke in the wrong place

• Wrong: Jeg føler ikke meg bra.
• Right: Jeg føler meg ikke bra.
• Why: In an ordinary main clause, a short object such as meg normally comes before ikke. Compare the subordinate clause fordi jeg ikke føler meg bra.

Confusing reflexive and reciprocal meaning

• Unclear or wrong for the intended meaning: De hjelper seg.
• Right for “They help each other”: De hjelper hverandre.
• Why: Seg points back to the subject, while hverandre explicitly means “each other.” Do not assume a plural reflexive automatically expresses a mutual action.

Usage Notes

Bokmål, speech and pronunciation

The written forms in this article are standard Bokmål. Meg, deg and seg have stable spellings, but their pronunciation varies widely among Norwegian speakers and dialects. You may hear forms that sound closer to “mai/dai/sai” or other regional variants. Keep the standard spelling even when a speaker’s pronunciation differs.

Reflexive constructions are normal in both formal and informal Norwegian. They are not more emphatic than non-reflexive English translations. Jeg legger meg is simply the ordinary way to say “I’m going to bed.”

The preposition belongs to the expression

Several frequent expressions require a particular preposition. Preserve it when adding a complement:

• glede seg til ferien — look forward to the holiday
• bestemme seg for noe — decide on something
• gifte seg med noen — marry someone / get married to someone
• ta seg av barna — take care of the children

The English preposition is not always a reliable clue. Learn the Norwegian verb, reflexive pronoun and preposition together.

Reflexive and non-reflexive versions can differ

Some verbs can occur both ways, but the meaning or sentence pattern changes:

Non-reflexive	Reflexive	Contrast
Jeg vasker bilen.	Jeg vasker meg.	I wash the car / I wash myself.
Hun setter koppen på bordet.	Hun setter seg ved bordet.	She puts the cup on the table / She sits at the table.
Han legger boka her.	Han legger seg.	He puts the book here / He goes to bed or lies down.
De føler presset.	De føler seg presset.	They feel the pressure / They feel pressured.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master all of this at A2, but these distinctions explain forms you will meet later.

Seg refers back within its own clause

The third-person reflexive normally points back to the relevant subject in its clause. Compare:

• Erik vasker seg. — Erik washes himself.
• Erik vasker ham. — Erik washes him, meaning another male person.

This contrast lets Norwegian distinguish “himself” from “him.” In an infinitive phrase, the understood doer can control seg: Hun ba Per sette seg means “She asked Per to sit down”; Per is the person who sits.

Body parts often use a definite noun

When an action affects the subject’s own body, Norwegian commonly combines a reflexive pronoun with a definite body-part noun:

• Jeg vasker meg i ansiktet. — I wash my face.
• Hun skar seg i fingeren. — She cut her finger.
• Han slo seg i hodet. — He hit his head.

English usually uses a possessive such as “my” or “her.” Norwegian often marks the owner through the reflexive pronoun and uses ansiktet, fingeren, hodet in the definite form (“the face,” “the finger,” “the head”).

Some combinations are idiomatic

A reflexive phrase may develop a meaning that is not predictable word by word:

• ta seg sammen — pull oneself together
• komme seg — recover; get oneself somewhere
• klare seg — manage; get by
• ha med seg — have or bring something along

Treat these as vocabulary rather than trying to derive every meaning from seg. Also keep reflexive verbs separate from Norwegian -s verbs such as møtes (“meet each other”) and synes (“think/find”). The final -s is part of the verb form; it is not the pronoun seg.

Practice Tips

1. Build five-person chains. Take one expression and say jeg legger meg, du legger deg, hun legger seg, vi legger oss, de legger seg. This trains the pronoun without adding difficult vocabulary.
2. Save the complete phrase. Write å glede seg til, not just glede. Add one personal example, such as Jeg gleder meg til helga (“I’m looking forward to the weekend”).
3. Transform one sentence. Turn Du setter deg ned into a question (Setter du deg ned?), a negative statement (Du setter deg ikke ned) and a command (Sett deg ned!). This practises both reflexive forms and word order.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Present Tense — reflexive verbs use the same present-tense forms as other Norwegian verbs.
• Helpful companion: Object Pronouns — explains the forms meg, deg, oss and dere in non-reflexive sentences too.
• Related contrast: S-Verbs (Reciprocal) — distinguishes reflexive pronouns from verbs ending in -s.
• Next step: Imperative Mood — develops commands such as Sett deg ned! and Skynd dere!.