Reflexive pronouns are pronouns that refer back in some way to the subject of the same sentence. One way reflexive pronouns can occur in English is by words such as “myself”, “yourself”, “ourselves”, “themselves”, etc.
The equivalent of such reflexive words in Thamil, for 1st and 2nd person, is achieved simply by using the corresponding pronoun.
Ex:
There are special reflexive pronouns for 3rd person. They can take case suffixes, and change before doing so.
| Reflexive 3rd Person Prounous | |
|---|---|
| Singular | Plural |
| தான் | தாங்கள் |
| Reflexive 3rd Person Prounous - Changes with Case Suffixes | |
|---|---|
| Singular | Plural |
| தன்- | தங்கள்- |
கொள்
One of the meanings of கொள்1 is “hold”. But we have already seen கொள்1 to help express something else. Namely, the AvP of கொள்1, which is கொண்டு, is used along with இரு7 to help express the continuous tense. If we only use கொள்1, we can form reflexive verbs. Reflexive verbs relate the action back to the subject. Another way of thinking about reflexive verbs is that they show the subject performs the action alone.
A verb can be made reflexive by using AvP + கொள்1
Ex:
Simultaneous actions can be expressed with கொள்1 and the continuous tense.
For verbs whose actions occur simultaneously, replace all verbs except for the last verb with AvP + கொண்டு
Ex:
Give commands to the indicate person/people using reflexive verbs
Ex: சிந்தாமல் ____. (குழந்தை, குடி6)Change the following sentences to emphasize the independence or self-reliance of action.
Ex: அவர்கள் சரகுகளை எடுப்பார்கள்.