"They are doing it themselves."
Translation:De gör det själva.
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Själv is not only used for constructions with reflexive verbs, but also alone to mean by oneself or alone.
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Behöver du hjälp? (Do you need help?)
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Nej, jag kan själv. (No, I can manage.)
Or
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Vill du ha sällskap ikväll? (Would you like some company tonight?)
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Nej, jag vill vara själv. (No, I want to be by myself.)
Does that help?
"sig" is an object. Själv(a) emphasises the subject. English merges both of these concepts into all of the self-words.
For example
Han äter det själv. = He eats it himself. (Object is "det". "Själv" emphasises that it was him and no one else.)
Han äter sig (själv). = He eats himself. (Object is "sig" - indicating that the subject and the object are the same person. Själv is commonly used for emphasis.)
I see that you're learning German as well and it's very similar, so the German translations for these sentences are:
Er isst es selbst/selber. Er isst sich (selbst/selber).
själv(a) = selbst/selber sig = sich
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In the previous question ""he sees himself " Han ser sjalv was marked wrong in favor of Han ser sig sjalv. So in this question I put De gor det sig sjalva and it was marked wrong in favor of De gor det sjalva. No reason why.
Could someone else please explain? I am finding it difficult to understand the other two explanations as I wrote something similar to George. I wrote "De gör det för sina själva". I understand that I should have omitted "för" but I don't understand why the rest of it is wrong, i.e. "sina själva" or "sin själva". Maybe if the explanations were worded differently I could understand them better.