Reflexive pronouns are reaching back toward a noun that is used before it. First, check out this list of reflexive pronouns!

Myself

Yourself

Himself

Herself

Itself

Ourselves

Themselves

We use this form when the subject and the object are the same.

Julia liked to challenge herself by picking difficult reading material.

James often tripped himself with his own shoe laces.

One way to see if a reflexive pronoun makes sense is to ask, "Can the subject perform this action on itself?" For instance, if we say, "Julia ate herself an apple," we know that Julia is eating the apple but the sentence sounds like something else!

Intensive pronouns use the same words as reflexive pronouns but they are used differently! They are used to add emphasis to a noun.

Myself

Yourself

Himself

Herself

Itself

Ourselves

Themselves

Examples:

I baked these cookies myself.

The king himself came to visit the sick peasant.

Because reflexive and intensive pronouns use the same words, it can be tricky to tell the difference!

The main difference between a reflexive and intensive pronoun is how it is used in the sentence.

A reflexive pronoun is typically used as an object in a sentence.

Example:

Subject - Verb - Object

I like myself for who I am!

An intensive pronoun usually comes right after another noun to emphasize that noun. It can appear after the subject or object of the sentence!

Example:

Subject - Verb - Object

God Himself (after subject) came to earth to die for our sins.

I got to meet the president himself (after object)!