Yourself is used when the person you are talking to is both doing and receiving the action, like “You hurt yourself.” It can also add emphasis, as in “You yourself said that.”
“Yourself” is a compound of “your” and “self,” following an Old English pattern of adding “-self” to pronouns. These forms grew into a special set of reflexive pronouns.
Words like “yourself” show how English builds complex ideas by stacking simple ones: ‘you’ plus ‘self.’ They let us talk about turning actions back on the same person, like a loop in a sentence.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.