Russian
The pronoun sebya universally means "oneself"/"myself"/"himself", etc. It is inflected depending on the case.
When used to indicate that the person is the direct object of the verb, one uses the accusative form, sebya. (It does not have a nominative form.)
- Он поранил себя. On poranil sebya. ("He has wounded himself.")
Emphasized forms are "sam sebya" - masculine, "sama sebya" - feminine, "sami sebya" - plural.
- Он поранил сам себя. On poranil sam sebya. ("He has wounded himself." Literally: "He himself has wounded himself.")
In addition, the reflective pronoun sebya gave rise the reflective affix -sya (-ся) used to generate reflexive verbs:
- Он поранился (He has wounded himself.)
There are certain stylistic differences between the three usages, despite being rendered in the same way in English.
When the person is not a direct object of the verb, other cases are used:
- Он принес с собой бутылку водки. On prines s soboi butylku vodki (He brought a bottle of vodka with himself.) - instrumental case
- Он уронил сумку себе на ногу. On uronil sumku sebe na nogu (He dropped a bag on his (own) foot. Literally: he dropped a bag to himself on the foot.) - dative case
Compare:
- Он уронил сумку ему на ногу. On uronil sumku emu na nogu (He dropped a bag on his (someone else's) foot.)
Russian has a reflexive possessive as well.
- Он любит свою жену. On lyubit svoyu zhenu. (He loves his wife (his own). - Reflective possessive)
- Он любит его жену. On lyubit yego zhenu (He loves his wife (someone else's). - It is ambiguous in English, but less so in Russian.)
Because of the existence of reflexive forms, the use of a non-reflexive pronoun indicates a subject that is different from the object. If it is impossible, the sentence is invalid or at least irregular:
- Он поранил его. On poranil ego. ("He has wounded him (someone else).")
- Ты видишь себя в зеркале. Ty vidish sebya v zerkale ("You see yourself in the mirror") - proper
- Tы видишь тебя в зеркале. Ty vidish tebya v zerkale ("You see you in the mirror") - invalid
- Ты любишь свою жену? Ty lyubish svoyu zhenu? ("Do you love your (own) wife?") - proper
- Ты любишь твою жену? Ty lyubish tvoyu zhenu? ("Do you love your wife?") - irregular
Read more about this topic: Thyself, Reflexive Pronouns in Languages Other Than English
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