French reflexive verbs: forms, uses and word order

A reflexive verb describes an action directed back at the person doing it: je lave le bébé means “I wash the baby”, while je me lave means “I wash myself”. In a dictionary, the form begins with se or s’: se laver, s’habiller. That pronoun changes with the subject when you use the verb in a sentence.

The English translation does not always include “myself”. French je m’habille normally means “I get dressed”, and je me promène means “I go for a walk”. Learn the whole pronominal verb with its meaning. Removing se can change that meaning, and some verbs, such as se souvenir de, are normally learned as pronominal constructions from the start.

Match the reflexive pronoun to the subject: me, te, se, nous, vous, se. The first and second person plural forms repeat the subject spelling, as in nous nous lavons, but the two words have different jobs. Before a vowel or mute h, me, te and se become m’, t’ and s’.

Do not keep dictionary se with every subject: je se lave is incorrect. The subject answers “who does the action?”; the reflexive pronoun shows its relation back to that subject. Compare je me lave with je te lave: the second sentence is not reflexive because the person washed is someone other than the speaker.

Choose the reflexive pronoun, then conjugate the main verb using its ordinary present pattern. A reflexive pronoun does not create a new set of verb endings. Se laver follows regular -er endings, while se lever, s’appeler and se souvenir keep the stem changes belonging to those verbs. Learn the pronoun and verb together as a spoken unit.

You can describe a daily routine with the present and time expressions: je me couche tôt en semaine. Use se réveiller for waking up and se lever for getting out of bed or standing up; one can happen before the other. The morning-routine page practises that vocabulary distinction, while the present drills concentrate on pronouns, endings and spelling.

Put the reflexive pronoun immediately before the verb it belongs to in ordinary statements. With a conjugated verb, it follows the subject; with a modal or aller + infinitive, it goes before the infinitive. In a negative simple tense, ne precedes the reflexive pronoun and pas follows the conjugated verb.

The pronoun still agrees with the person doing the infinitive action: nous allons nous coucher, vous pouvez vous asseoir. For a general infinitive expression without a specific subject, keep se: il est important de se reposer. When negating the infinitive itself, write ne pas se lever or ne pas me lever, according to the reference.

For the passé composé, use a matching reflexive pronoun, present être and the past participle. For the imparfait, keep the reflexive pronoun and use the ordinary imparfait stem and endings. The choice of tense still depends on viewpoint: a whole past occurrence versus a habit, state or action in progress.

In a negative passé composé, surround the auxiliary group appropriately: elle ne s’est pas levée. The reflexive pronoun stays before est, and pas goes after it. Do not add an extra être before the participle or leave the main verb infinitive. The dedicated past and imparfait pages provide practice once the present pronoun pattern is comfortable.

No: although pronominal verbs use être, their participle agreement depends on the construction. With elle s’est lavée, se is a preceding direct object, so the participle agrees. With elle s’est lavé les mains, the direct object follows the verb and se is indirect, so lavé does not agree with the subject.

For body care, French often uses a definite article with the body part because the reflexive pronoun already identifies whose body is involved: je me brosse les dents, elle se lave les mains. This is also why the body-part noun matters when checking past agreement. More complex preceding-object cases belong in the dedicated participle-agreement practice.

In an affirmative command, put the reflexive pronoun after the verb with a hyphen, using toi for singular familiar address. In a negative command, put te, nous or vous before the verb inside the negative frame. As with other commands, do not include the subject pronoun.

For a regular -er verb, the singular familiar affirmative command normally drops the written s: lève-toi, not lèves-toi. Reflexive commands are useful for invitations and instructions, but tone still matters: asseyez-vous, je vous en prie sounds more welcoming than a sharply delivered command on its own.

No: se can express a reciprocal action, a fixed pronominal meaning or a passive-like construction. With plural subjects, ils se regardent can mean they look at themselves or at each other, depending on context. Add l’un l’autre or another clarification when the intended relationship is unclear.

Keep the basic reflexive meaning as your starting point, but record new pronominal verbs as complete expressions. Translating every se as “itself” will make sentences such as ça se vend or je me souviens unnecessarily confusing. The reciprocal and pronominal-passive pages extend the same pronoun system to these additional uses.

Check the matching pronoun, the stem, the position and the auxiliary, then examine any past agreement. Most errors come from treating the dictionary form se as fixed or applying subject agreement without checking the verb’s objects.

• Je se lave.Je me lave.

  The reflexive pronoun must match je.

• Je me vais coucher.Je vais me coucher.

  Me belongs to the infinitive se coucher.

• Elle s’a levée.Elle s’est levée.

  Pronominal verbs take être in the passé composé.

• Elle s’est lavée les mains.Elle s’est lavé les mains.

  The following direct object les mains prevents agreement with se here.

• Lèves-toi !Lève-toi !

  The regular -er tu command drops the written s.