The use of reflexive pronouns with -self is not uncontroversial. Adding -self for emphasis, or in cases that could be ambiguous, is always accepted. However, adding -self to reflexively used pronouns in any other case is often strongly proscribed, as the pattern is attributed to English influence (Ponelis 1979:83, 88). In terms of real language use, speakers often do add -self when it is technically not necessary for emphasis or disambiguation, as can be seen in examples (2b), (3b) and others below.

Similar to personal pronouns in general, reflexive pronouns can also be distinguished according to person, number, and sometimes gender. For first person singular, the object form my me is used (2a) as well as the extended form myself myself (2b). For the first person plural, ons us (2c) and onsself ourselves (2d) are used. Different from English where there are separate forms for singular and plural, in Afrikaans the added -self is used for both. However, there are alternative forms, used infrequently and often (though not always) informally, such as onsselwe (2e), but these do not correspond to specific person or number references.

In terms of second person singular, the same principle applies: the object form jou you.SG can be used reflexively (3a), as well as jouself yourself (3b). The second person plural takes julle you.PL (3c) and julleself yourselves (3d), as well as the shortened form jul (3e) and julself (3f). The honorific second person u you.HON (3g) and uself yourself/yourselves.HON (3h) are used similarly.

As with personal pronouns, the third person singular distinguishes between female and male gendered forms. The female form haar her is used reflexively (4a), as well as the extended form haarself herself (4b). The male forms function according to the same principles, with hom him (4c) and homself himself (4d). Furthermore, the plural manifests as hulle them (4e) and hulleself themselves (4f), and as the shortened forms hul (4g) and hulself (4h).

The third person has one unique reflexive pronoun, a pronoun that is inherently reflexive, sig it (5a) and sigself itself (5b). The form is used infrequently, as it is fairly archaic, except for the fixed expression PPop sigself in itself (see Further uses of -self). As an alternative for inanimate reflexive use, the male form can be used. Another form that is not formally recognised, and only infrequently used, is with the third person inanimate personal pronoun as ditself itself, illustrated in (5c-d).

A few more examples of different reflexive pronouns with alternative forms, primarily -selwe and -selwers, are illustrated in (6).