Les verbes pronominaux (reflexives verbs).

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.

Reflexive verbs mainly have to do with parts of the body, clothing, personal circumstance or location.

Some examples:

• Je me rappelle de mon rêve : I remember my dream
• Je me brosse les dents : I brush my teeth
• 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 / se demander – to wonder
– mettre – to put / se mettre à – to start doing something
– passer – to pass / se passer – to happen

---

---

Les verbes “Partir” et “Mettre”

With these two verbs you have seen the last verbal group we are missing the third group!

Part of them have the following conjugation:

The verb “mettre” (to put), as in English, has a wide variety of meanings and uses. The main ones are:

• To set / to put:
  • Je mets la table : I set the table
  • Ils mettent de l’eau partout : They put water everywhere
• To put on:
  • Il met son pantalon noir : He puts on his black pants
  • Je mets mon caleçon : I put on my shorts
• To position yourself, to place yourself:
  • Nous nous mettons en face de vous : We put ourselves in front of you
  • Je mets le stylo sur la table : I put the pen on the table
• To start something: (here the verb becomes reflexive) :
  • Je me mets au piano : I start playing the pianoo
  • Tu te mets au foot ? Are you dedicating yourself to soccer?
• To take time :
  • Ils mettent du temps à venir : They take a long time to arrive
  • ça met environ 3 heures : This takes around 3 hours

---

Reminder for this lesson’s vocabulary

Finish the lesson with the quiz