Reflexive Pronoun 'savo / savęs' — Lithuanian Grammar

A reflexive word points back to the subject of the sentence - to whoever is doing the action. Lithuanian has a single reflexive that works for every person (I, you, he, we…), so you do not need a different word for "myself", "yourself", "himself", and so on.

"savo" - One's Own

As a possessive, means "my/your/his/her/their own", always referring to the subject. It never changes its ending:

Aš myliu savo darbą.
I love my (own) job.
Jie parduoda savo namą.
They are selling their (own) house.

Use it whenever the owner and the subject are the same; use , , — his, her, their — only when the owner is someone other than the subject.

"save / savęs" - Oneself

The reflexive pronoun proper means "oneself" as an object. It has no nominative - you cannot be the subject "of yourself" - but it declines in the other cases: (of oneself), (to/for oneself), (oneself), (with oneself):

Jis myli save.
He loves himself.
Nupirkau sau dovaną.
I bought myself a present.
Pasakyk sau.
Tell yourself.

The Reflexive Inside Verbs

This same reflexive idea is also baked into reflexive verbs, where it appears as -tis on the infinitive and -si tucked inside a conjugated form:

Jis prausiasi.
He is washing (himself).
Mokausi.
I am teaching myself / studying.

One Word for Every Person

The real economy of the Lithuanian reflexive is that the same words work no matter who the subject is. Where English changes "my / your / his / our own" and "myself / yourself / himself", Lithuanian keeps and throughout:

Aš pasiimu savo knygą.
I take my (own) book.
Jie pasiima savo knygas.
They take their (own) books.

The reflexive always reaches back to whoever is the subject of that clause - so reading it is just a matter of finding the subject.

"pats" - -self, in person

For emphasis - "myself, in person", "the very one" - Lithuanian uses (masculine) / (feminine), which agrees like an adjective:

Aš pats tai padariau.
I did it myself.
Ji pati nežino.
She herself does not know.
Tas pats žmogus.
The same person.

So Lithuanian splits work that English piles onto "-self": for "one's own", for "oneself" as an object, and for emphasis.

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