Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to conjugate and use French reflexive (pronominal) verbs correctly.

Lesson Explanation

Reflexive (pronominal) verbs in French, like their Spanish and Italian counterparts from earlier-built Gabal courses, use a reflexive pronoun that matches the subject and are recognizable by the se attached to the infinitive: se laver (to wash oneself).

Reflexive pronouns, following the object pronoun placement rule from Part 2, Lesson 6, go directly before the conjugated verb: je me lave, tu te laves, il se lave, nous nous lavons, vous vous lavez, ils se lavent.

Many everyday routine verbs are genuinely reflexive in French where English doesn’t use “self” at all — a pattern already seen in the Spanish and Italian courses: se lever (to get up), se réveiller (to wake up), s’habiller (to get dressed), se coucher (to go to bed).

A genuinely important detail affecting the compound past tense (covered fully in Part 3, Lessons 3-5): ALL French reflexive verbs use être as their auxiliary in the passé composé, never avoir — a rule identical in logic to the Italian reflexive-verb pattern from an earlier-built Gabal course: Je me suis levé. (I got up.)

With an infinitive, the reflexive pronoun must still agree with the SUBJECT of the main verb, not stay fixed as “se”: Je vais me lever. (I’m going to get up — “me,” not “se,” since the subject is “je.”)

Practice Questions