Lesson 5: Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive verbs—actions where the effect of the action falls back onto the subject, the do-er of the action—can be a tricky concept for learners. But don't worry! They follow the same patterns you've already mastered, and they even come with built-in pronouns to help you keep track of who's doing what.

Let's look at a quick example with a familiar verb, parler (to speak):

Notice the difference? That little te makes it reflexive—it shows that the action is bouncing back to the subject.

Reflexive verbs are written in the infinitive with se or s’ before the verb, like se parler (to speak to oneself) or s'habiller (to get dressed).

Now let’s see how these verbs are conjugated.

Let's look at the general formation of reflexive verbs.

When the subject is a noun such as les élèves (the students), choose the pronoun it corresponds to. Les élèves corresponds to ils, so the matching reflexive pronoun is se.

With nous and vous, the subject pronoun and reflexive pronoun happen to look identical:

Before a Vowel Sound

Before a verb beginning with a vowel sound, me, te, and se shorten to m', t', and s':

Nous and vous do not shorten before a vowel sound.

So far, every example has been directly reflexive: the subject performs the action on itself, as in Paul se lave—"Paul washes himself." But that's only one of several ways reflexive verbs translate into English. Let's look at the others.

With a plural subject, the reflexive pronoun can show that people perform an action on one another. Marie et Paul se parlent means "Marie and Paul talk to each other."

Many French reflexive verbs do not translate with myself, yourself, or themselves at all. Instead, the reflexive form has its own natural English meaning. For example, se promener means "to take a walk," se dépêcher means "to hurry," and s'énerver means "to get annoyed." These verbs are best learned as complete expressions rather than translated word for word.

French also commonly uses reflexive pronouns when someone performs an action involving their own body. In these sentences, the body part usually takes le, la, or les rather than a possessive word such as my or her:

The reflexive pronoun already shows whose body is involved.

Here are some of the most frequently-used reflexive verbs in French:

For the reflexive example sentences, we'll show you reflexive forms of a verb alongside their non-reflexive forms to highlight just how simple they can be.

That's all there is to it—add the matching reflexive pronoun and conjugate as usual. Next we'll meet the two most important verbs in all of French: avoir and être.