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Allen & Greenough · Part Second — Syntax › Pronouns

§299. Reflexive Pronouns

The Reflexive Pronoun ( sē), and usually its corresponding possessive ( suus), are used in the predicate to refer to the subject of the sentence or clause:—

  • sē ex nāvī prōiēcit (B. G. 4.25), he threw himself from the ship.
  • Dumnorīgem ad sē vocat (id. 1.20), he calls Dumnorix to him.
  • sēsē castrīs tenēbant (id. 3.24), they kept themselves in camp.
  • contemnī sē putant (Cat. M. 65), they think they are despised.
  • Caesar suās cōpiās subdūcit (B. G. 1.22), Cæsar leads up his troops.
  • Caesar statuit sibi Rhēnum esse trānseundum (id. 4.16), Cæsar decided that he must cross the Rhine (the Rhine must be crossed by himself).

a. For reflexives of the first and second persons the oblique cases of the personal pronouns ( meī, tuī, etc.) and the corresponding possessives ( meus, tuus, etc.) are used:—

  • mortī mē obtulī; (Mil. 94), I have exposed myself to death.
  • hinc tē rēgīnae ad līmina perfer (Aen. 1.389), do you go (bear yourself) hence to the queen's threshold.
  • quid est quod tantīs nōs in labōribus exerceāmus (Arch. 28), what reason is there why we should exert ourselves in so great toils?
  • singulīs vōbīs novēnōs ex turmīs manipulīsque vestrī similēs ēligite (Liv. 21.54), for each of you pick out from the squadrons and maniples nine like yourselves.

J. H. Allen and J. B. Greenough, New Latin Grammar (Boston: Ginn, 1903). Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.