French reflexive verbs come with a pronoun that points back to the subject: je me lave means I wash myself. In a dictionary they appear with se in front of the infinitive, se laver, and many of the verbs you use for a daily routine work this way.

Here is how the pronoun changes with the subject, a list of the reflexive verbs you will use most, se lever as a model, and how these verbs behave in the passé composé.

1. How French reflexive verbs work

The reflexive pronoun changes with the subject and goes right before the verb. Me, te and se lose their vowel before a vowel or a silent h: je m'habille, tu t'appelles, il s'amuse.

Subject	Pronoun	se laver
je	me, m'	je me lave
tu	te, t'	tu te laves
il, elle, on	se, s'	elle se lave
nous	nous	nous nous lavons
vous	vous	vous vous lavez
ils, elles	se, s'	ils se lavent

The verb itself is conjugated as usual: se laver takes the endings of laver.

2. Se lever conjugation, a model to copy

Se lever, to get up, is the reflexive verb of every morning, and it adds one spelling trap: a grave accent on the e when the ending is silent.

• je me lève, tu te lèves, il se lève
• nous nous levons, vous vous levez
• ils se lèvent

The future keeps the accent everywhere: je me lèverai, nous nous lèverons. The passé composé uses the present of être, je me suis levé, so the guide to être conjugation is worth knowing by heart.

3. List of reflexive verbs in French for every day

The daily routine

• se réveiller, to wake up; se lever, to get up
• se laver, to wash; se doucher, to shower; se brosser les dents, to brush your teeth
• s'habiller, to get dressed; se coucher, to go to bed

Feelings and states

• s'amuser, to have fun; s'ennuyer, to be bored
• s'inquiéter, to worry; se sentir, to feel
• se reposer, to rest; se dépêcher, to hurry

Other common ones

• s'appeler, to be called: je m'appelle Léa
• s'asseoir, to sit down; se promener, to go for a walk
• se souvenir de, to remember; se tromper, to make a mistake
• s'occuper de, to take care of; se rendre compte, to realize

4. French pronominal verbs: four kinds

French grammar calls all these verbs pronominal verbs, and the pronoun does not always mean myself or yourself:

• Reflexive: the subject acts on itself. Je me lave.
• Reciprocal: two or more people act on each other. Ils se parlent tous les jours.
• Idiomatic: the verb only exists with se, or changes meaning with it. Je me souviens, elle s'en va, il se moque de moi.
• Passive: the subject undergoes the action. Ce livre se vend bien.

The kind matters for one thing: the agreement of the past participle.

5. Reflexive verbs in the passé composé

Every reflexive verb takes être in compound tenses, even when the same verb takes avoir without the pronoun: j'ai lavé la voiture, but je me suis lavé.

• Je me suis levé tôt.
• Elle s'est habillée en vitesse.
• Nous nous sommes promenés au bord du lac.

In the negative, ne goes before the pronoun and pas before the participle: je ne me suis pas levé. To ask a question, the simplest form is the intonation: Tu t'es bien reposé ? The overview of French past tenses explains when the imparfait fits better.

6. When the past participle agrees

With être you might expect the participle to agree with the subject every time. With reflexive verbs, it depends on what se stands for.

Sentence	Agreement	Why
Elle s'est lavée.	yes, lavée	se is the direct object: she washed herself
Elle s'est lavé les mains.	no	the direct object is les mains, after the verb
Ils se sont parlé.	no	parler à: se is an indirect object
Elle s'est souvenue de tout.	yes, with the subject	se souvenir only exists with se

The full rule, with the tricky cases, is on the page about pronominal verbs and agreement.

7. Reflexive verbs after another verb and in the imperative

When a reflexive verb follows another verb, it stays in the infinitive but its pronoun still matches the subject:

• Je vais me coucher, never je vais se coucher.
• Tu dois te reposer.
• Nous voulons nous promener.

In the affirmative imperative, the pronoun moves after the verb, with a hyphen, and te becomes toi: lève-toi, assieds-toi, dépêchons-nous, habillez-vous. In the negative it goes back in front: ne te lève pas.

8. Common mistakes with reflexive verbs

• J'ai levé tôt instead of je me suis levé tôt: the pronoun and être go together.
• Je vais se coucher instead of je vais me coucher.
• Elle s'est lavée les mains: with a direct object after the verb, lavé stays without e.
• Je me leve without the accent: je me lève.
• Lève-te instead of lève-toi.

The short version

Me, te, se, nous, vous, se before the verb, matching the subject; être in the passé composé; an agreement that depends on what se stands for. Learn se lever and a handful of routine verbs, and the rest follows the same pattern. Writing them in dictations, as Apostrophe· has you do, is a quick way to catch the missing accents and agreements.

Frequently asked questions

What are reflexive verbs in French?

Verbs used with a pronoun that refers back to the subject: je me lave, I wash myself. Dictionaries list them with se in front of the infinitive, as in se laver.

Do French reflexive verbs take être or avoir?

Always être in compound tenses: je me suis levé, elles se sont amusées. That includes verbs that take avoir without the pronoun, such as laver.

How do you conjugate se lever?

Je me lève, tu te lèves, il se lève, nous nous levons, vous vous levez, ils se lèvent. The e takes a grave accent when the ending is silent.

Does the past participle agree with reflexive verbs?

Often, not always. It agrees when se is the direct object (elle s'est lavée), and not when a direct object follows the verb (elle s'est lavé les mains) or when se is an indirect object (ils se sont parlé).

How do you make a reflexive verb negative?

Ne goes before the pronoun and pas after the verb: je ne me lève pas. In the passé composé, pas comes before the participle: je ne me suis pas levé.

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