Reflexive Verbs

sich waschen ≈ Telugu's -కొను auxiliary ('to do for oneself')

Telugu has a bound auxiliary verb, -కొను (from కొను, 'to take'), that attaches directly onto a main verb stem to mark that the action is done to or for the subject itself — చేయు ('to do') plus కొను gives చేసుకోవడం ('to do for oneself'), so స్నానం చేసుకోవడం is literally 'to bathe for oneself'. German instead bolts a small reflexive pronoun onto an ordinary verb to signal the same thing: waschen ('to wash something') becomes sich waschen ('to wash oneself') by adding sich. The mechanism differs — Telugu's marker is a bound auxiliary fused onto the verb, German's is a separate pronoun word — but both languages are marking the same underlying idea: the action bounces back onto its own subject. Not every Telugu reflexive-flavored action uses -కొను, though: 'to sit down' is simply కూర్చోవడం, a single dedicated verb with no separate reflexive marker at all, so this is a helpful pattern rather than an exceptionless rule.