When you hear someone say "he fixed the car all by hisself," your grammar alarm probably goes off. You aren't imagining things. That sentence contains a classic nonstandard form that turns up in casual speech across various regions. People often wonder where "hisself" comes from and whether it has any legitimate place in English.
The short answer is clear: hisself is incorrect in standard English. The correct reflexive pronoun is himself. Saying "he built the deck all by himself" follows the established rules of English pronoun formation, while using "hisself" marks your speech as nonstandard. Let's look at why this form exists, how reflexive pronouns work, and how to spot other pronoun traps.
The Anatomy of Reflexive Pronouns
To understand why "hisself" sounds jarring to most English speakers, you need to look at how English constructs reflexive pronouns. A reflexive pronoun points back to the subject of the clause or sentence. When the subject and the object are the same person or thing, you use a pronoun ending in -self (singular) or -selves (plural).
English builds these pronouns by combining a possessive determiner (like my, your, our) or an objective personal pronoun (like him, them) with the word self or selves.
Look at the standard pattern across the grammatical persons:
- First person singular: myself (my + self)
- Second person singular: yourself (your + self)
- Third person feminine singular: herself (her + self)
- Third person neuter singular: itself (it + self)
- First person plural: ourselves (our + selves)
- Second person plural: yourselves (your + selves)
- Third person plural: themselves (their + selves)
Notice the split in logic. For first and second person pronouns (my, your, our), English uses the possessive form before self. For third person feminine and plural (her, their), it uses the objective form (her, their). For the third person masculine singular (him), English pairs the objective pronoun him with self to create himself.
Why Does "Hisself" Exist in Spoken English?
If standard English uses himself, why do millions of native speakers naturally say hisself? The answer lies in analogical leveling—a natural linguistic process where speakers simplify irregular or inconsistent patterns to match a regular rule.
Look at the pattern of possessive-based reflexive pronouns:
- My becomes myself.
- Your becomes yourself.
- Our becomes ourselves.
To a speaker—especially a child learning language naturally—applying this exact logic to the third person masculine seems completely logical. If my makes myself, shouldn't his make hisself? It is a tidy, symmetrical formula. In fact, historical linguistics shows that hisself was once a common form in early English dialects before standardisation fixed himself as the permanent norm.
Regional dialects and working-class speech communities preserved hisself across centuries. When language standards were codified in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, grammarians rejected hisself in favor of himself, aligning masculine pronouns with the objective form him rather than the possessive his.
The Pitfalls of Hypercorrection: "Hisself" vs "His Own"
Language users trying to avoid nonstandard traps often swing too far in the opposite direction, landing in hypercorrection. Hypercorrection happens when someone overcorrects a perceived error and creates a new awkwardness.
For example, a writer might become so paranoid about using nonstandard pronouns that they awkwardly rewrite sentences to avoid himself entirely, or they inject words like own in strange places. You might see phrases like "he managed the project by his own self." While grammatically defensible, it sounds overly formal and stilted in casual conversation.
Another common hypercorrection involves people misusing myself in objective positions because they think me sounds uneducated. You will often hear corporate professionals say, "Please send the report to John and myself." This is grammatically incorrect. The reflexive myself requires a preceding subject I (as in "I hurt myself"). In objective slots, you should stick to plain old me: "Please send the report to John and me."
Common Reflexive Pronoun Mistakes to Avoid
Beyond hisself, several other pronoun traps trip up writers and speakers every day. Recognizing these patterns helps keep your writing sharp and professional.
Using "Theirselves" or "Theirselves"
Just as speakers try to create hisself by pairing a possessive with self, some people say theirselves or theirselves. The standard plural form is themselves (combining the objective pronoun them with selves).
Using Reflexive Pronouns Without an Antecedent
A reflexive pronoun must always refer back to a subject in the same clause. You cannot drop a reflexive pronoun into a sentence where no matching subject exists.
- Incorrect: "For questions regarding this policy, contact Jane or myself." (There is no "I" subject in the sentence to anchor "myself").
- Correct: "For questions regarding this policy, contact Jane or me."
Using Reflexive Pronouns for Emphasis When Unnecessary
You can use reflexive pronouns for emphasis—for instance, "The CEO himself signed the agreement." However, using them where standard pronouns suffice clutters your prose. Keep it simple unless you specifically need to emphasize who performed the action.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is "hisself" ever considered correct in dictionaries?
Major dictionaries like Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary list hisself, but they explicitly label it as nonstandard, dialectal, or archaic. It appears in literature representing regional or historical speech, but it has no place in formal writing, academic papers, or professional communication.
Why doesn't English use "his" for masculine reflexive pronouns?
English grammar evolved through a mix of objective and possessive roots. While first and second-person pronouns adopted the possessive form (my, your), third-person pronouns adopted the objective form (him + self, her + self). Consistency was sacrificed for historical precedent.
How can I stop myself from using nonstandard dialect forms?
Awareness is the best tool. If you grew up hearing hisself or theirselves in your local community, catch yourself during drafting and intentionally substitute himself and themselves. Over time, the standard forms will feel natural.
What is the difference between an intensive pronoun and a reflexive pronoun?
Both end in -self or -selves, but they serve different functions. A reflexive pronoun is required for the sentence structure to make sense (e.g., "He blamed himself"). An intensive pronoun simply emphasizes a noun and can be removed without changing the core meaning (e.g., "The president himself visited the site").
