Se Verbs Flashcards
I just
I just did that
I just went there
Je viens de
je viens de faire ça
je viens d’y aller
Practicing “I just…….”
Using “se réveiller” = to wake up
I just woke up
She just woke up
You just woke up (i)
Je viens de me réveiller = I just woke up
Elle vient de se réveiller = she just woke up
Tu viens de te réveiller = you just woke up
Demain nous allons nous réveiller.… à 9 heures. (se réveiller = to wake up)
This morning, I woke up at 5am = Ce matin, je me suis réveillé at 5 heure
What time did you wake up ? = A quelle heure est-ce que tu t’es réveillé ce matin ?
s’appeler = to be called
s’appeler = to be called
Je m’appelle Craig
Comment tu t’appelles ? = what’s your name? (how do you call yourself?)
Comment elle s’appelle? = what’s her name? (how does she call herself?)
to wash yourself (se verb)
I washed myself
I am going to wash myself
se laver
Je me suis laver = I washed myself
Je vais me laver = I am going to wash myself
to rest (se verb)
se reposer = to rest
Je vais me reposer
Je me suis reposé = I rested
Repose - toi bien ! = rest well
Reposez-vous bien ! = sleep well
to hurry up/to be quick (se verb)
se dépêcher = to hurry up
We will hurry / We will be quick (futur) = On va se dépêcher
Je vais me dépêcher = I will hurry / I will be quick
Hier Je me suis dépêché pour prendre le train (passe compose).
to make a mistake (se verb)
se tromper = to make a mistake
Désolé, je me suis trompé
to swim (se verb)
se baigner = swim
Aujourd’hui on va se baigner.… (se baigner = swim)
Impératif commands
Lève-toi ! (Impératif = command) (se lever = to get up, to stand up)
Reflexive verb = to stop
Don’t stop
I am going to stop soon
s’arrêter
ne pas s’arrêter
je vais me arrêté bientot
To enjoy (se verb)
To have a good time
I had a lot of fun
s’amuser
bien s’amuser
Je me suis beaucoup amusé
or:
J’ai eu beaucoup de plaisir
To worry (se verb)
s’inquiéter
Reflexive verb = to worry
I worry
I don’t worry
I don’t worry about that
Don’t worry
s’inquiéter
je m’inquiète (je mun qui-et)
je ne m’inquiète pas
je ne m’inquiète pas pour ça
ne t’inquiète pas (ne tun qui-et pas)
I don’t worry
je ne m’inquiète pas
You worry
(using se verb)
tu t’inquiètes
You worry a lot
tu t’inquiètes beaucoup
To sit (se verb)
s’asseoir (sass soir)
Conjugating Reflexive Verbs I
Reflexive verbs indicate that an action is being “reflected back” on the subject.
A reflexive verb infinitive is identified by its reflexive pronoun se, which is placed before the infinitive and that serves as a direct or indirect object pronoun.
A reflexive verb shows that the subject is performing the action upon itself and, therefore, the subject and the reflexive pronoun refer to the same person or thing, as in je m’ appelle (I call myself), which is translated to “My name is.”
Some verbs must always be reflexive, whereas other verbs may be made reflexive by adding the correct object pronoun. The meaning of some verbs varies depending upon whether or not the verb is used reflexively.
Conjugating Reflexive Verbs II
Reflexive verbs are preceded by the pronoun se in their infinitive form. Generally speaking, the presence of se indicates that the subject is performing an action on himself/herself/itself.
Let’s look at an example to clear this idea up.
Take the verb se laver. This verb means “to wash oneself.”
By contrast, with the verb laver (to wash), the subject could be washing something else.
Il se lave. (He washes himself.)
Il lave la voiture. (He washes the car.)
Conjugating Reflexive Verbs III - Present Tense
How to Conjugate French Reflexive Verbs in the Present Tense
With reflexive verb conjugation, you have to do two important things:
Change the spelling of the verb to agree with the subject/tense
Change the reflexive pronoun to agree with the subject
The good news is that most verbs follow their non-reflexive spelling change patterns. In other words, if you already know how to conjugate a non-reflexive verb, you don’t need to learn any new spellings for the reflexive version.
As for the reflexive pronouns, these are pretty easy to remember:
Je (I) → me
tu (you) → te
il, elle, on (he, she, one/we) → se
nous (we) → nous
vous (you, formal/you all) → vous
ils, elles (they) → se
There’s only one small thing to keep in mind: remember that me, te and se shorten to m’, t’ and s’ before a word that starts with a vowel.
And that’s it! Count yourself up to date on French reflexive verbs in the present tense. Check out these three regular reflexive verbs conjugated fully, noticing how different reflexive pronouns line up with different subjects.
Se laver (to wash oneself)
Je me lave avant le dîner. (I wash myself for dinner.)
Tu te laves après la classe. (You wash yourself after class.)
Il/elle/on se lave le matin. (He/she/one washes himself/herself/oneself in the mornings.)
Nous nous lavons chaque jour. (We wash ourselves every day.)
Vous vous lavez dans la salle de bains. (You all wash yourselves in the bathroom.)
Ils/elles se lavent avec de l’eau et du savon. (They wash themselves with water and soap.)
Se réunir (to meet one another)
On se réunit dans la salle de classe. (We meet in the classroom.)
Nous nous réunissons pour l’anniversaire de notre grand-mère. (We meet up for our grandmother’s birthday.)
Vous vous réunissez lundi pour parler des contrats. (You’re going to all meet up on Monday to talk about the contracts.)
Ils/elles se réunissent vendredi au bar. (They’re meeting up on Friday at the bar.)
S’attendre à (to expect)
Je m’attends à un appel de votre part. (I’m expecting a phone call from you.)
Tu t’attends à un essai de ton étudiant. (You expect an essay from your student.)
Il/elle/on s’attend à rester à la maison toute la fin de semaine. (He/she/one expects to stay home for the whole weekend.)
Nous nous attendons à étudier pour trois heures ce soir. (We expect to study for three hours tonight.)
Vous vous attendez à recevoir votre patron à 15h. (You all expect to greet your boss at 3:00 p.m.)
Ils/elles s’attendent à embarquer dans l’avion à 6h. (They expect to take the plane at 6:00 a.m.)
Conjugating Reflexive Verbs IV - Futur Tense
How to Conjugate French Reflexive Verbs in the Futur Proche
The futur proche (the near future) looks similar to the compound tenses we discussed above, because it uses the verb aller (to go) before the main verb. However, it doesn’t follow the same patterns as above.
When putting a reflexive verb in the futur proche, simply conjugate the verb aller in the present tense, then change the reflexive pronoun to agree with the subject.
Notice that the verb aller comes before the reflexive pronoun in this tense and the main verb stays in the infinitive.
Je vais me baigner. (I’m going to bathe.)
Tu vas te cacher. (You are going to hide.)
Il/elle/on va se changer. (He/she/one is going to change outfits.)
Nous allons nous doucher. (We are going to shower.)
Vous allez vous maquiller. (You all are going to put on makeup.)
Ils/elles vont se raser. (They are going to shave.)
Conjugating Reflexive Verbs IV - Passe Compose
How to Use Reflexive Verbs in Compound Tenses
As you might already know, compound tenses in French are tenses that use an auxiliary verb. For example, in the passé composé, you need to use either the verb être or avoir before the past participle of your main verb.
When conjugating reflexive verbs in compound tenses, always use être as your auxiliary verb. The auxiliary goes after the reflexive pronoun.
Because all reflexive verbs conjugate in compound tenses with the auxiliary être (to be), their past participles must agree in gender and number with the subject. The general rules are:
Add -s to the participle for masculine, plural subjects
Add -e to the participle for feminine, singular subjects
Add -es to the participle for feminine, plural subjects
Further, verbs follow the regular formation rules for past participles (-er becomes -é, -ir becomes -i and -re becomes -u) and verbs that have irregular past participles in the non-reflexive form also retain them in the reflexive verb form.
Check out this example of the reflexive verb se réveiller (to wake up) in the passé composé (past tense).
Se réveiller (to wake up)
Je me suis réveillé(e) à 4h. (I woke up at 4:00 a.m.)
Tu t’es réveillé(e) quand tu as entendu le bruit. (You woke up when you heard the noise.)
Il/elle/on s’est réveillé(e) pour la classe de français. (He/she/one woke up for French class.)
Nous nous sommes réveillé(e)s après avoir eu une soirée fantastique. (We woke up after having had a fantastic evening.)
Vous vous êtes réveillé(e)s à 16h de vos sommes. (You all woke up at 4:00 p.m. from your naps.)
Ils/elles se sont réveillé(e)s quand l’alarme a sonné. (They woke up when the alarm sounded.)
When using the passé composé, the past participle has to agree in gender and number with the direct object. Most of the time this is the reflexive pronoun. Reflexive verbs always use the auxiliary être to form the passé composé.
Valérie: Hier, tu t’es levée plus tôt. (Yesterday, you got up earlier.)
Annabelle: C’est vrai, parce que je me suis coupé les cheveux. (That’s correct, because I cut my hair.)
In this conversation, you can see how the passé composé is structured. The two pronouns are placed side by side, and then the auxiliary and the participle come right afterward.
Se verbs:
to remember
to rest
to swim
to wake up
to get dressed
se rappeler = to remember
se reposer = to rest
se baigner = to swim
se réveiller = to wake up
s’habiller = to get dressed (ab ee ay)
