German reflexive pronouns (dialect case study)
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To see how each letter is pronounced in this case study, cf. German dialect case study spelling.
Reflexive pronouns work just like in High German:
- 1st person singular: misch
- 2nd person singular: disch
- 3rd person singular: sisch
- 1st person plural: uns
- 2nd person plural: aisch
- 3rd person plural: sisch
- polite 2nd person: sisch
As an example, see the conjugation of the reflexive verb sisch vesche (sich waschen, to wash oneself):
isch vesch misch, duu vesch(d) disch, à/es veschd sisch,
mir vesche uns, ir vesche aisch, se vesche sisch
Or, if the pronoun comes after the verb:
veschisch misch, veschde disch, veschdà/veschds sisch,
veschemà uns, veschenà aisch, veschese sisch
The reflexive pronouns are mainly needed for the 3rd person, and that's why they are different from the accusative pronouns there. If you said à veschd ne (with the accusative pronoun), it would mean "he washes him", i.e. another man. Thus à veschd sisch (with the reflexive pronoun) is the Rhine Franconian way to say "he washes himself". Such a distinction is not necessary for 1st and 2nd person. Think about it yourself...
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Dative
Of course such a distinction is also useful in dative case. Compare "she buys a book for herself" to "she buys a book for her" (for another woman). In Rhine Franconian you use the reflexive pronoun sisch for the first case and the dative pronoun em for the second, just like in English.
So the complete conjugation of sisch e Buuch kafe (sich ein Buch kaufen, to buy a book for oneself) is as follows:
isch kaaf mà, duu kaafsch(d) dà, à/es kaafd sisch e Buuch
mir kafe uns, ir kafe aisch, se kafe sisch e Buuch
Nominative
In English, reflexive pronouns can also be used for a subject, i.e. in nominative case: "He can say it myself." But a distinction between "him" and "himself" is not necessary here, so sisch is not used here in Rhine Franconian.
The reflexive "himself" is meant to emphasize, not to distinguish. This emphasis is done with the word selbschd: Der kanns selbschd san (Er kann es selbst sagen).
The word is the same for all persons, thus "We can say it ourselves" is translated as Mir kennes selbschd san (Wir können es selbst sagen).
Genitive
Not even English uses "herself" in genitive case. Compare "she reads her book" to "she reads her own book". The first phrase is ambiguous (Does she read her own book or another woman's?), the second one makes it clear. This is exactly the same in Rhine Franconian: es lehsd sai Buuch (sie liest ihr Buch) is ambiguous, es lehsd sai aischenes Buuch (sie liest ihr eigenes Buch) emphasizes that she doesn't read someone else's book.
The word "aischenes" is declined like an adjective and doesn't depend on the person. And of course you can say isch lehs mai aischenes Buuch (ich lese mein eigenes Buch, I read my own book) to emphasize that you don't read someone else's book.
The adjective "aischen" is in fact more regularly used than in English. You say Isch hann e aischenes Haus (Ich habe ein eigenes Haus) for "I have a house of my own".
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