Modern German Grammar: A Practical Guide, Second Edition

unterfordern ‘to underwork/ask too little of ’

unterschätzen ‘to underestimate’

untertreiben ‘to understate’

widersprechen ‘to contradict’

widerstehen ‘to resist’

widerstreben ‘to oppose/go against’

wiederholen ‘to repeat’ (this is the only inseparable verb beginning with

wieder- ‘again’)

Separable:

über*fahren ‘to cross over (usually water)’

über*gehen ‘to transfer to’

um*reißen ‘to pull down (buildings)’

unter*bringen ‘to accommodate/find a place for’

wider*hallen ‘to echo’

wider*spiegeln ‘to reflect/mirror’

(The latter are the only two separable verbs beginning with wider- ‘against’.)

37 Reflexive verbs

37.1 These are verbs with a reflexive object, i.e. an object which refers back to the subject of
the verb:

Ich wasche mich.

I wash (myself).

However, not all German reflexives can be translated by ‘myself ’, ‘yourself ’, etc.

37.2 The reflexive pronoun has an accusative and a dative form. Note how the pattern
is basically the same as for the personal pronoun (see 30.2b) except for the use
of sich:

37.3 Most verbs which can be used reflexively can also be used as normal transitive verbs (see
33.8a). Note the following patterns:

(a) Er rasiert sich.

He shaves (himself).

Subject Reflexive

Accusative Dative

ich mich mir

du dich dir

Sie (sing. and pl.) sich sich

er/sie/es/man sich sich

wir uns uns

ihr euch euch

sie sich sich

37

Reflexive