What are reflexive pronouns?
Reflexive pronouns are pronouns which refer back to the subject, aka the nominative of the sentence. Since reflexive pronouns refer to the subject, they cannot ever be in the nominative case. The third person reflexive pronoun is special, and is similar to the declensions of the singular of tū, with the leading t- being replaced with an s-. Furthermore, in the third person, there is no difference between the singular and plural declensions of the reflexive pronoun, since we know the number by virtue of the subject.
Reflexive Pronouns and their Declensions
Singular
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Genitive | meī | tuī | suī |
| Dative | mihi | tibi | sibi |
| Accusative | mē | tē | sē |
| Ablative | mē | tē | sē |
| Plural |
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Genitive | nostrī | vestrī | suī |
| Dative | nōbīs | vōbīs | sibi |
| Accusative | nōs | vōs | sē |
| Ablative | nōbīs | vōbīs | sē |
What are reflexive possessive adjectives?
Reflexive possessive adjectives are the same as the regular possessives (see here: Personal Pronouns - Ego, Tū, Is) we have seen before. However, with these, we know that the subject is the possessor. This means that the reflexive possessive is the same for the first and the second person; however, for the third person, we use suus, sua, and suum. The reason for this is simple. If we have two third person nouns in a sentence, say a subject (nominative) and a direct object, we need two different possessive adjectives to show what belongs to the subject and what belongs to the direct object. Remember, like any other adjective, the possessive agrees with the noun it modifies in number, gender and case.
Example:
Cicerō amīcum suum laudāvit. = Cicero has praised his (Cicero’s) friend. Cicerō amīcum eius laudāvit. = Cicero has praised his (non Cicero’s) friend.
Remember that the third person does not have possessive adjectives. We instead use the genitive endings of eius, eōrum, and eārum.
What is the intensive pronoun?
The intensive pronoun ipse, ipsa, and ipsum is used to emphasize any noun or pronoun in a sentence. We can think of it as the English, myself, yourself, themselves, etc.
Singular
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ipse | ipsa | ipsum |
| Genitive | ipsius | ipsius | ipsius |
| Dative | ipsi | ipsi | ipsi |
| Accusative | ipsum | ipsam | ipsum |
| Vocative | ipse | ipsa | ipsum |
| Ablative | ipso | ipsa | ipso |
| Plural |
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ipsi | ipsae | ipsa |
| Genitive | ipsorum | ipsarum | ipsorum |
| Dative | ipsis | ipsis | ipsis |
| Accusative | ipsos | ipsas | ipsa |
| Vocative | ipsi | ipsae | ipsa |
| Ablative | ipsis | ipsis | ipsis |
Minus the genitive and dative singular, which follows the demonstratives in declension pattern. The declensions for ipse match that of any other adjective, like magnus, magna, magnum (see here: Latin Declensions).