Russian Reflexive Verbs with -ся and -сь

Reflexive verbs in Russian end in the particle -ся (after a consonant) or -сь (after a vowel), historically a contraction of себя́ ("self"). They cover several distinct meanings: literal reflexives (умыва́ться "to wash oneself"), reciprocal actions (встреча́ться "to meet each other"), passive constructions (Кни́га чита́ется легко́ — "The book reads easily"), and a large group of verbs that simply happen to be reflexive in form (учи́ться "to study", смея́ться "to laugh", боя́ться "to fear").

Conjugation works exactly like normal verbs — just add -ся or -сь to the end of each form. The choice between -ся and -сь depends on whether the preceding letter is a consonant or vowel: я учу́сь, ты у́чишься, он у́чится.

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