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French 2 Unit 1: Reflexive Verbs and Daily Routine

Reflexive (pronominal) verbs describe actions you do to yourself, like waking up, washing and getting dressed. They are the core of talking about your daily routine and they set up the passé composé with être later.

Covers: Reflexive pronouns, Present tense of reflexive verbs, Daily routine verbs, Negation and questions with reflexives, Reflexives with infinitives, Reciprocal and idiomatic reflexives

Study guide

A reflexive verb is a verb whose subject and object are the same person: Je me lave means "I wash myself." In the dictionary these verbs appear with se in front of the infinitive: se laver, se lever, s'habiller. When you conjugate them, se changes to match the subject. The reflexive pronouns are me, te, se, nous, vous, se. So se laver becomes je me lave, tu te laves, il/elle/on se lave, nous nous lavons, vous vous lavez, ils/elles se lavent. Before a vowel or a mute h, me, te and se drop their vowel: je m'habille, tu t'appelles, il s'amuse.

The verb part follows the normal present-tense rules you already know. Se laver, se coucher, se brosser (les dents), se dépêcher, se reposer and s'habiller are regular -er verbs. Some reflexive verbs have spelling changes: se lever becomes je me lève, nous nous levons; s'appeler doubles the l (je m'appelle, nous nous appelons); s'ennuyer changes y to i (je m'ennuie). A few are irregular: s'endormir (to fall asleep) is conjugated like dormir: je m'endors, nous nous endormons. Se sentir (to feel) works like sortir: je me sens.

The reflexive pronoun always stays directly in front of the verb it belongs to. In the negative, ne goes before the pronoun and pas after the verb: Je ne me lève pas tôt. In questions with est-ce que, nothing moves: Est-ce que tu te couches tard ? With inversion, the pronoun stays in front: Te couches-tu tard ? When a reflexive verb follows another verb as an infinitive, the pronoun goes in front of the infinitive and matches the subject: Je vais me coucher, Nous voulons nous reposer, Tu dois te dépêcher.

Many verbs change meaning when they are made reflexive. Laver means to wash something or someone else (Je lave la voiture), while se laver means to wash oneself. With body parts, French uses the reflexive verb plus a definite article, not a possessive: Je me brosse les dents (I brush my teeth), Elle se lave les mains. Some verbs are idiomatic: s'amuser (to have fun), s'ennuyer (to be bored), se souvenir de (to remember), s'occuper de (to take care of), se tromper (to be mistaken), s'entendre bien avec (to get along with).

In the plural, a pronominal verb can be reciprocal, meaning "each other": Ils se parlent tous les jours (They talk to each other every day), Nous nous téléphonons (We call each other). Context tells you whether the meaning is reflexive or reciprocal. To describe a routine, use time words such as d'abord (first), ensuite and puis (then), après (after), enfin (finally), le matin, le soir, tous les jours and d'habitude (usually). A typical routine: Je me réveille à sept heures, je me lève, je me douche, je m'habille et je me brosse les dents.

Key ideas

• Reflexive verbs use a pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous, se) that matches the subject.
• Me, te and se become m', t' and s' before a vowel or mute h.
• The reflexive pronoun goes directly before the verb, including in negatives and questions.
• With an infinitive, the pronoun sits before the infinitive and still matches the subject.
• With body parts, use a definite article (les dents), not a possessive (mes dents).
• Some verbs change meaning when reflexive (s'appeler, s'ennuyer, se rendre compte).
• Plural reflexive forms can be reciprocal: they show people acting on each other.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Forgetting the reflexive pronoun, as in *Je lève à sept heures instead of Je me lève.
• Using the wrong pronoun with an infinitive, as in *Je vais se coucher instead of Je vais me coucher.
• Placing ne after the pronoun, as in *Je me ne lave pas instead of Je ne me lave pas.
• Using a possessive with body parts, as in *Je brosse mes dents instead of Je me brosse les dents.
• Forgetting the accent change in se lever (je me lève) or the double l in s'appeler (je m'appelle).

Before the test, make sure you can

• Conjugate any regular reflexive verb in the present tense with the correct pronoun.
• Apply elision (m', t', s') before vowels and mute h.
• Form negatives and questions with reflexive verbs in the correct word order.
• Place the reflexive pronoun correctly before an infinitive and match it to the subject.
• Use a definite article with body parts after a reflexive verb.
• Distinguish a verb used reflexively from the same verb used non-reflexively.
• Identify reciprocal meaning in plural pronominal verbs.
• Describe a daily routine in order using sequence words.

Words to know

se réveiller

to wake up

se lever

to get up

se doucher

to shower

s'habiller

to get dressed

se brosser les dents

to brush one's teeth

se peigner

to comb one's hair

se maquiller

to put on makeup

se raser

to shave

se coucher

to go to bed

s'endormir

to fall asleep

se reposer

to rest

s'amuser

to have fun

s'ennuyer

to be bored

se dépêcher

to hurry

la brosse à dents

toothbrush

le dentifrice

toothpaste

le savon

soap

le shampooing

shampoo

la serviette

towel

le peigne

comb

d'abord

first

ensuite

next

puis

then

enfin

finally

d'habitude

usually

Sample practice questions

30 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.