What does “themselves” mean?
- 1
pronounused when the people doing an action are also affected by it
The kids enjoyed themselves at the party.
- 2
pronounused to emphasize that they did it without help
They built the house themselves.
Themselves at a glance
- Part of speech
- pronoun
- CEFR level
- A2 (elementary)
- Pronunciation
- /ðəmˈsɛlvz/ · thum-SELVZ
How to use “themselves” correctly
“By themselves” means alone or without help: “The kids walked home by themselves.”
Common phrases with “themselves”
- by themselves
- enjoy themselves
Synonyms, opposites and related words
“themselves” is on these word lists
Learn these words next
- herself pronounA2used when the woman or girl doing an action is also affected by it
- himself pronounA2used when the man or boy doing an action is also affected by it
- myself pronounA2used when the speaker is both the subject and object of a verb
- others pronounA2different people or things from the ones already mentioned
- yourself pronounA2used when the subject and object are the same person, “you”
- anything pronounA1any thing; used in questions and negative sentences
- everything pronounA1all things, or all the things in a situation
- he pronounA1used to talk about a man, boy or male animal already mentioned