Herself is a pronoun people use when referring back to a female person already mentioned in a sentence. When you say “Maria taught herself to play piano,” the word herself points back to Maria, showing that she was both the teacher and the student.

This kind of word, called a reflexive pronoun, helps us avoid awkward repetition. Instead of saying “Sarah looked at Sarah in the mirror,” we say “Sarah looked at herself in the mirror.” The word makes the sentence clearer and more natural.

Herself also adds emphasis when you want to highlight that someone did something personally, without help. If your friend says “I built this treehouse myself,” she's emphasizing her own effort and accomplishment. Similarly, “The author herself attended the book signing” stresses that the actual author showed up, not just a representative.

You might hear someone say a person “wasn't herself today,” meaning she seemed different from her usual personality, perhaps quieter or less energetic than normal. This usage treats herself as a way of talking about someone's usual self.