Reflexive Verbs



Reflexive verbs in French can be a little tricky, but if you remember a few basic rules you should do ok. The reflexive pronoun might throw a lot of people off at first, but then they find out that the reflexive verbs follow the same rules for conjugaison and tense formation as any other verb. Here is a handout to help you learn them.

Reflexive verbs are preceeded by an object pronoun that agrees with the subject of the sentence. The reflexive pronouns are:

je = me (m' before a vowel or silent 'h') nous = nous

tu = te (t' before a vowel or silent 'h') vous = vous

il/elle = se (s' before a vowel or silent 'h') ils/elles = se (s' before a vowel or silent 'h')

We've already seen some examples of this, Je m'amuse. and Elle se lève. (Note that in many cases the English equivalents are nonreflexive.) In dictionaries reflexive verbs are listed under the infinitive form, proceeded by the third person reflexive pronoun se. So remember to make the pronoun agree with the subject of the sentence when you write your sentences. For example:

s'amuser: to have fun (literally, to amuse oneself)

Nous nous amusons au cours de français.

Making Questions

Making questions with reflexive verbs follow the same pattern as non reflexive verbs.

Intonation Tu te lèves tôt demain?

With est-ce que Est-ce que tu te lèves tôt demain?

With inversion Te lèves-tu tôt demain? (The object pronoun remains in front of the verb.)

With n'est-ce pas Tu te lèves tôt demain, n'est-ce pas?


Negation

With reflexive verbs in negative sentences ne is placed before the object pronoun and pas, rien, jamais are placed after the verb.

Je ne me lève pas tôt.
Je ne me lève jamais tôt.

Used as an infinitive with anothe verb

When a reflexive verb is used in the infinitive after another verb the reflexive pronoun agrees with the subject of the sentence.

Je n'aime pas me lever tôt.
Nous allons nous lever tôt demain.

In the passé composé

(We're going to learn the passé composé of reflexive verbs in chapter 7. I'm giving it to you now for completeness. You won't be required to know this for the test until we cover it in class.)

Reflexive verbs use être as the auxiliary verb to form the passé composé, not avoir. If the reflexive pronoun is the direct object the past participle agrees in gender and number with it.
The reflexive pronoun preceeds the auxiliary verb directly.

Elle se lève. Elle s'est levée.
Elles se lèvent. Elles se sont levées.
Se lèvent-elles? Se sont-elles levées?

If the reflexive pronoun is the indirect object (as when referring to parts of the body) there is no agreement between the past participle and the reflexive pronoun.

se laver - to wash

Elle se lave. She washes.
Elle s'est lavée. She washed herself.
Elle s'est lavé les cheveux. She washed her hair. (Les cheveux is the direct object, se is the indirect object.)

In negative sentences in the passé composé the reflexive pronoun still preceeds the auxiliary verb directly.

Elle ne s'est pas lavée.
Ne s'est-elle pas lavée?

As you just saw, the reflexive pronoun preceeds the auxiliary verb and inversion occurs between the subject pronoun and the auxiliary.

Reflexive pronouns will come after the verb in the case of affirmative commands, which we'll cover in a later chapter.