Reflexive pronouns are pronouns used with reflexive verbs. Do you remember? “se laver, se réveiller…”
Reflexive verbs describe what a person does for him/herself, meaning that it reflects the action of the verb back on the subject (the subject and the object are the same). The structure is always the same for all reflexive verbs, as you can see below.
Les pronoms réfléchis
| Je | me | lave |
| Tu | tu | laves |
| Il/Elle/On | se | lave |
| Nous | nous | lavons |
| Vous | vous | lavez |
| Ils/Elles | se | lavent |
Reflexive verbs mainly have to do with parts of the body, clothing, personal circumstance or location.
Some example:
- Je me rappelle de mon rêve : I remember my dream >
- Je me brosse les dents : I brush my teeth >
- J’oublie souvent les choses : I often forget things >
- Il se couche tard le soir : He stays up late at night
- Nous nous faisons du soucis : We are concerned
Tips: There are some verbs that have one meaning when they are not reflexive and another when they are. Some examples:
– demander – to ask / if demander – to wonder
– mettre – to put / se mettre à – to start doing something
– passer – to pass / if passer – to happen
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Illustration – listen carefully
“Je suis Français mais je me lave tous les jours, avant de me brosser les dents avec de la musique brésilienne.”
“I am French, but I wash every day, before brushing my teeth, with Brazilian music.”
La négation avec les verbes pronominaux
One mistake we see regularly (especially from English speakers) is the placement of the negation “ne” and “pas” with pronominal verbs.
La règle est simple :
SUJET + NE + PRONOM (ME/TE/SE…) + PAS + VERBE
Par exemple :
- Je ne m’appelle pas Mathieu mais Jacques.
- Tu ne te laves pas le soir ?
- Nous ne nous sommes jamais vu.
Remember that “jamais”, “plus”, “rien”… can take the place of “pas”.
As with many things in French, the easiest way to remember this grammar is to practice writing and doing exercises.
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