Bonjour, my dearest learners! Today, I wanted to go further into reflexive verbs in French.
Reflexive verbs in French – Écouter
Introduction to reflexive verbs in French
What if I told you that you have been using reflexive verbs since the very beginning of your learning of the French language. Yes, that’s right! In fact, the first pronominal verb (or reflexive verb in our case) you learn is the verb… s’appeler, used to introduce yourself : “Je m’appelle Marie”.
Indeed, the verb “s’appeler” is what we call a reflexive verb in French. It is a verb made up of a reflexive pronoun and an auxiliary verb.
A reflexive pronoun is what is added before the conjugated verb. In the infinitive, the reflexive pronoun is “se” (or ” s’ ” for verbs that begin with a vowel). When the verb is conjugated, the reflexive pronoun can be :
1st person singular | Me M’ |
2nd person singular | Te T’ |
3rd person singular | Se S’ |
1st person plural | Nous |
2nd person plural | Vous |
3rd person plural | Se S’ |
Differences between reflexive and non reflexive verbs
As seen above, reflexive verbs require a reflexive pronoun, which makes them different from the non reflexive verbs. Here are two examples:
Reflexive verb | Non reflexive verb |
Se réveiller
Je me réveille Tu te réveilles Il/elle se réveille
Nous nous réveillons Vous vous réveillez Ils/elles se réveillent | Chanter
Je chante Tu chantes Il/elle chante
Nous chantons Vous chantez Ils/elles chantent |
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A reflexive verb is therefore a verb that, in the infinitive, is characterized by the presence of the reflexive pronoun “se” (or “s’ “).
It is also possible that the same verb can be both a reflexive and a non reflexive verb.
For example: lever and se lever. What is the difference?
Lever (quelque chose / quelqu’un): It is the act of moving something or someone from the bottom to the top.
Se lever: It is the act of moving (our body, ourselves) from the bottom to the top.
Adding a reflexive pronoun before the verb changes the meaning of the sentence entirely.
Let’s look at the two sentences below:
1. Je réveille mon fils. (I wake my son up)
2. Je me réveille. (I wake myself up)
In both sentences, who/what is the object? In the first sentence, the object is “mon fils” (je réveille quoi/qui? (who am I waking up?) Mon fils) and in the second sentence, the object is “me“, so, “myself”.
Therefore, when you apply a reflexive pronoun before some verbs, it changes the object of the sentence.
Other pronominal verbs
There are two types of pronominal verbs: reflexive verbs (like the ones we have just seen) or reciprocal verbs.
Reflexive verb: when the subject performs an action on itself.
For example: se lever, se coiffer, s’habiller.
Reciprocal verb: when the subject performs an action on someone/something else, who also does it back to the subject (hence the term “reciprocal”, which could mean like actions that are done reciprocally”).
For example: se téléphoner (to phone each other), se marier (to mary one another), s’aimer (to love one another).
Depending on the context, the verb “s’appeler” can either mean “to call oneself” (Je m’appelle Marie) or “to call one another/each other” (On s’appelle ce soir !).
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Reflexive verbs conjugated in the present tense
This is the pattern to follow if you would like to conjugate reflexive verbs in French, in the present tense:
Affirmative sentence : Subject + reflexive pronoun + verb
Negative sentence: Subject + ne + reflexive pronoun + verb + pas
Here’s an example with the verb “s’appeler”:
Affirmative | Negative |
Je m’appelle Tu t’appelles Il/elle s’appelle
Nous nous appelons Vous vous appelez Ils /elles s’appellent | Je ne m’appelle pas Tu ne t’appelles pas Il/elle ne s’appelle pas
Nous ne nous appelons pas Vous ne vous appelez pas Ils/elles ne s’appellent pas |
I hope you enjoyed reading and listening to this lesson about reflexive verbs in French. If you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to share them in the comments section!
To check out more articles about French grammar, feel free to click here : French grammar explained.
