Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "myself" in Russian

This Russian word is one of the top 1000 words in Russian. The complete list of most common Russian words is available here.

себя

Meaning: myself, himself, herself, yourself

Pronunciation: [see-BYAH]

Part of speech: pronoun, particle

Rank: #40 (see frequency list)

Example sentences:

Анна посмотре́ла на себя́ в зе́ркало.
Anna looked at herself in the mirror.
В э́том вы мо́жете вини́ть то́лько себя́.
You can only blame yourself for this.
Расскажи́те что́-нибудь про себя́.
Tell something about yourself. (polite or plural)
Он при́нял госте́й у себя́ до́ма.
He received the visitors at his home.
Мои́ де́ти всегда́ хорошо́ веду́т себя́.
My children always behave well. ('себя' is not translated)
Он не тот, за кого́ себя́ выдаёт.
He is not the one he wants you to believe he is.
Мне как-то не по себе́.
I don't feel quite myself.

Idioms and set expressions:

не по себе = to be out of sorts; to feel awkward
читать про себя = to read to oneself
прийти в себя = to come to one's senses
ничего себе = not so bad
так себе = so-so
он очень xopош собой = he is very good-looking
literal he is very good with himself
Берегите себя! = Take care of yourself!
брать на себя = to assume
выйти из себя = to lose temper
сам по себе = on its/his/her own

Other forms of the word (declensions):

Case	Form
Nominative	-
Genitive	себя́
Dative	себе́
Accusative	себя́
Instrumental	собо́й (собо́ю)
Prepositional	(o) себе́

Phrase recordings: Copyright(c) 2011 MasterRussian.com. All rights reserved.
Word recordings: Copyright(c) 2006 Streit Goulnara, Streit Eric, Vion Nicolas. Copyright(c) 2007 S. Sakhno, N. Vion. Distributed under CC-BY.

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