yourselves
- 01 A2 Elementary
you use this when the people you are talking to do an action to themselves.
the reflexive object of a verb or preposition where the subject is the same group of people being addressed.
Simple“Please help yourselves to some snacks while you wait for the meeting.”
In context“If you do not prepare yourselves for the upcoming inspection, the entire department will likely face significant penalties.”
PitfallYou all should take care of yourself. You all should take care of yourselves.Use 'yourselves' when addressing more than one person; 'yourself' is only for one person.
- 02 B1 Intermediate
you use this to emphasize that the people you are talking to are the ones doing the action.
used as an intensive pronoun to emphasize the second-person plural subject of the clause.
Simple“You yourselves told me that the project was finished yesterday.”
In context“Since you yourselves witnessed the incident, your testimony will be crucial for the internal investigation.”
Synonyms
Morphologically your + -selves.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.