"Vede se stessa."

Translation: She sees herself.

[ferynn]

Se stesso/stessa can directly be translated as "himself/herself" ?

[mukkapazza]

That's right. You could even use the reflexive pronouns in certain cases:

He sees himself in the mirror = vede se stesso allo specchio/si vede allo specchio

[Blomeley]

I never saw this use of 'se stesso' before. Does it get used with other verbs besides 'ver'?

[mukkapazza]

Sure. Literally it is one (se) + self (stesso), so it is often used just like that. Here are a few possibilities:

• Cucino per me stesso/I cook for myself
• Lei compra il vestito per se stessa/She buys the dress for herself
• Abbiamo rispetto per noi stessi/We have respect for ourselves

[Zsuu-S]

These are really helpful, thank you :)
So if I am a women, it is 'Cucino per me stessa?', right?

[Wichito390]

You're right!

[Blomeley]

Thanks, those examples are a good help, because i would have translated 'she sees herself' as 'si vede nello specchio'.

Your examples are much better because they show when the construction is really useful. Saying 'Mi cucino' or 'Si compra' wouldn't work the same way!

Thanks!

[mukkapazza]

Well they could if you follow up with something:

• Mi cucino un uovo
• Lei si compra un divano

There are a few ways to indicate someone is doing something for or by themselves, you'll find more as you go along :)

[sandeepa2]

Grazie mukkapazza

[AndrDemetr]

Cheers, I just put forward a question to a similar question where "...nello specchio (..in the mirror) is in the statement. This is the exactly answer that I needed.

[ferynn]

Thanks a lot !

[darkpeak]

If we are all female, would it be 'per noi stesse' (for ourselves) ?

[carolfair]

Why can't it be ... HE sees HIMSELF???

[MintySciurus]

"Se stesso" would be "himself", "se stessa" is "herself", "se stesse/i" would be "themselves".
Normally you'd use "sé" so it isn't confused with the conjunction "se" which means "if". But apparently if you follow "se" with stesso/stessa/stesse/stessi you can relax that rule (you can either use "se stessa" or "sé stessa", it doesn't matter).
"sé" means "himself/herself/itself", while stesso/stessa/stessi/stesse is an adjective meaning "same", by combining the two you get a gender specific emphasis for himself/herself/themselves, rather than depending just on the context of the sentence.
(update: correction to use the right accented e for sé)

[Computerchi]

Two confusing words here, se and si. For me they mean if and yes. Yet they are being used for other meaning. Non è facile!

[RenatoSSTradutor]

"Se" might mean 'if' and 'him/her/it-self' as a reflexive pronoun.
"Si" is a reflexive pronoun, just like above, but used in different situations.
"Sì", with a grave accent, means 'yes'.

Sì, se si vede allo specchio, chi sono io?
Yes, if you see yourself in the mirror, who am I?

Capisce?

[birote74]

Why is "She watches herself" wrong? It lists Vede as both see and watch.

[Pepe_Quevedo]

"guardare" is often used as "watch" and "vedere" for "see"

[CGACresswell]

can vedere not be 'look at' or should that be guardare?

[Ampus_Questor]

I think that 'vedere' is just to see in general, ie the use of one's eyes whereas 'guardare' is more 'to look at' or, even better, 'to reGARD'.

[ivanzec1988]

I wrote " he sees himself" and it was wrong...

[SarunasP]

I only knew "se" as "if"...

[Ampus_Questor]

I agree. Italian is confusing in that 'se' is used for 'if', unlike French and Spanish where (in different positions) it indicates a reflexive verb. And 'si', which seems a more intuitive way to say 'if', or 'yes' (ignoring the accent), indicates a reflexive verb. But it's all grist to the mill of learning, I suppose.

[Yvonne329604]

These are great. Thank you.

[PeterJense14]

Shouldn't it be "Vede sé stessa" ??

[Rustler73044]

Should be "she sees herself". You told me it was You see herself.

[JaceyXD]

(◔_◔) Uhhhhhm... What does this mean? She sees herself in the future?

[Walentinio]

Maybe, in the mirror? Or on the picture.

[Rene944301]

Now I got it, this intro on the use of reflexives; however, the example should have some trailing clause like "in the mirror", "like a princes", etc. to have a full sense.