Swedish: An Essential Grammar, 2nd edition

vara/bli + adjective
it
any intransitive verb
there
any passive verb
there
impersonal subject
impersonal verb
it
object
verbs expressing say/think/ so
hope/believe, etc.
prepositioned object
cf. 12.7.1
answering questions
vara/bli or auxiliary verb
–
refers back to clause
any verb
–/it/that or
infinitive
Reflexive pronouns
The reflexive pronoun is used when the object of a sentence or clause is
also the subject. Reflexive forms are identical to object forms for all but
the third person:
Jag har skurit mig.
I have cut myself.
←⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Stäng dörren efter dig!
Close the door behind you.
/Du/ is understood as subject in imperatives.
Han har skurit sig.
He has cut himself.
←⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Han stängde dörren efter sig.
He closed the door behind him.
←⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
De hade inga pengar på sig.
They had no money on them.
←⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Note that the reflexive forms must be used in Swedish. There is a great
deal of difference between Han sköt honom (Object, ‘He shot him’) and
Han sköt sig (Reflexive, ‘He shot himself’)!
5.3
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Reflexive
pronouns
81

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There is one important and frequent exception to the main rule. After
verbs followed by object and infinitive constructions (see 7.5.1 (3)) the
reflexive pronoun idiomatically refers to the object, and the personal
pronoun to the subject of the main clause:
Han (S) bad doktorn (O) tvätta sig (RP).
←⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
He asked the doctor to wash himself.
Han (S) bad doktorn (O) tvätta honom (PP).
←⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
He asked the doctor to wash him.
The reflexive pronouns are used with a number of verbs (see 7.5.14) regarded
as expressing reflexive actions in Swedish, but where the reflexive idea is
absent in English: