By the end of this lesson you'll be able to describe your day in the past with reflexive verbs, say how you hurt yourself, and talk about what people did together.
Always être
You know reflexive verbs in the present from the lesson on daily routines. In the passé composé, every reflexive verb takes être. You don't need the picture of a house from the lesson on the passé composé with être for these: if the verb has se, it takes être.
The reflexive pronoun goes right before the auxiliary.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| je me suis levé / levée | zhuh muh swee luh-VAY | I got up (man / woman) |
| tu t'es levé / levée | tew teh luh-VAY | you got up (informal; man / woman) |
| il s'est levé / elle s'est levée | eel seh luh-VAY / el seh luh-VAY | he got up / she got up |
| nous nous sommes levés / levées | noo noo somm luh-VAY | we got up (masculine or mixed / all women) |
| vous vous êtes levé / levée / levés / levées | voo voo-zet luh-VAY | you got up (depends who you're speaking to) |
| ils se sont levés / elles se sont levées | eel suh sohn luh-VAY / el suh sohn luh-VAY | they got up |
Before the vowel of es and est, te and se shorten to t' and s'.
Je me suis réveillé à six heures et quart.
I woke up at quarter past six.
Tu t'es levé à quelle heure ?
What time did you get up?
Nous nous sommes dépêchés.
We hurried.
Elles se sont reposées.
They rested.
With on meaning "we", the participle usually agrees as it would with nous, as in the lesson on talking about your weekend: on s'est levés (we got up).
The negative
Ne goes before the pronoun, and pas goes after the auxiliary. So the negative wraps around both the pronoun and the auxiliary.
Je ne me suis pas lavé.
I didn't wash. (said by a man)
Elle ne s'est pas couchée.
She didn't go to bed.
Agreement
As a rule of thumb, the reflexive pronoun is the direct object, so the participle agrees with the subject. Add -e, -s or -es as you would with the verbs you've already seen.
Léa s'est habillée.
Léa got dressed.
Paul et Marc se sont lavés.
Paul and Marc had a wash.
There's an exception to learn now. When a direct object follows the verb, the participle doesn't agree. That's the case with parts of the body, such as le bras, la main and le genou from the lesson on the body and health, in sentences like these.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| se casser | suh kah-SAY | to break (a part of your body) |
| se blesser | suh bleh-SAY | to hurt yourself, to injure yourself |
Elle s'est cassé le bras.
She broke her arm.
Il s'est lavé les mains.
He washed his hands.
Elle s'est brossé les dents.
She brushed her teeth.
Compare that with a sentence where what follows isn't a direct object.
Elle s'est blessée au genou.
She hurt her knee.
Au genou has à in it, so it isn't a direct object, and blessée agrees with elle. There's more on this later, in the lesson on pronouns in the passé composé.
Each other
Some reflexive verbs mean that two or more people do something to each other. These are reciprocal verbs. In the present, they work like other reflexive verbs.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| se voir | suh VWAHR | to see each other |
| se rencontrer | suh rahn-kohn-TRAY | to meet each other |
| se téléphoner | suh tay-lay-foh-NAY | to phone each other |
- Nous nous voyons samedi. (We're seeing each other on Saturday.)
- Ils se téléphonent le soir. (They phone each other in the evening.)
In the passé composé, se voir and se rencontrer agree with the subject, using the participles vu and rencontré. Se téléphoner doesn't agree, because in téléphoner à quelqu'un, the person comes after à.
Ils se sont vus lundi.
They saw each other on Monday.
Elles se sont rencontrées à Lille.
They met in Lille.
Ils se sont téléphoné.
They phoned each other.
En français
- Tu t'es levée à quelle heure ? (What time did you get up?)
- À huit heures, et je me suis dépêchée. (At eight, and I hurried.)
- Et ton frère ? (And your brother?)
- Il s'est cassé le bras dimanche ! (He broke his arm on Sunday!)
- Non ! Il s'est reposé ? (No! Did he rest?)
- Oui. Nous nous sommes téléphoné samedi. (Yes. We phoned each other on Saturday.)
What's next
Next, the lesson on il faut and simple advice shows you how to say what someone needs to do. You'll practise injuries and advice together in the review of this unit.