Les verbes pronominaux: pronominal verbs in French

How to recognise French pronominal verbs

Pronominal verbs always take a reflexive pronoun that corresponds to the subject of the sentence:

Example:

Je me suis trompé d’adresse.I’ve got the wrong address.

subject = je + reflexive pronoun = me

The table below shows the French reflexive pronouns:

How to conjugate French pronominal verbs

When conjugating pronominal verbs, we have to remember the following things:

• The reflexive pronoun comes after the subject pronoun and before the conjugated verb. As shown in the table above, the reflexive pronoun always matches the subject pronoun.

  Example:

  Je me suis promené en ville.I went walking in town.

• If the verb begins with a vowel, we drop the e from me/te/se and connect the reflexive pronoun and the verb with an apostrophe. This is known as elision.

  Example:

  Tu t’es promené en ville.You went walking in town.

• In negative sentences, ne comes before the reflexive pronoun, while the second part of the negation (pas) comes after the conjugated verb.

  Example:

  Je ne me suis pas promené en ville.I didn’t go walking in town.

See the tables below for model conjugations of pronominal verbs. To conjugate any French verb, go to our verb conjugator.

• Pronominal verbs in the present tense:

• Pronominal verbs in all tenses:

Pronominal verbs and the participe passé

Pronominal verbs always form the passé composé with the auxiliary être + past participle.

The participe passé of pronominal verbs generally agrees with the subject.

Example:

Nous nous sommes levés très tôt.We got up very early.

1st person plural subject (nous) → participe passé + s

However, the participe passé does not agree with the subject if the direct object comes after the verb.

Example:

Elle s’est lavé les mains.She washed her hands.

direct object = les mains; placed after the verb → no agreement

but: Elle s’est lavée.

direct object = elle-même (se); placed before the verb → participe passé + é

Remember: the past participle never agrees with an indirect object.

Example:

Marie et Laurent se sont téléphoné.Marie and Laurent called each other on the phone.

indirect object: téléphoner à qui ?

The participe passé does not agree with the subject of reciprocal verbs: se téléphoner, se parler, se mentir, se plaire (complaire/déplaire), se sourire, se rire, se nuire, se succéder, se suffire, se ressembler, s’en vouloir.

Types of pronominal verbs in French

We can categorise French pronominal verbs into different types.

1. Exclusively pronominal verbs

Some verbs are exclusively pronominal; i.e. they always take a reflexive pronoun.

Examples:

s’évanouirto faint

the verb évanouir doesn’t exist

se méfierto mistrust

the verb méfier doesn’t exist

Some of the most common exclusively pronominal verbs include: s’absenter, s’abstenir, s’accroupir, s’affairer, s’agenouiller, s’autoproclamer, se blottir, se démener, s’ébattre, s’écrier, s’écrouler, s’efforcer, s’emparer, s’empresser, s’enfuir, s’ensuivre, s’entraider, s’envoler, s’esclaffer, s’évader, s’évanouir, s’évertuer, s’exclamer, s’extasier, se fier, se goinfrer, s’immiscer, se marrer, se méfier, se méprendre, se morfondre, s’obstiner, se prélasser, se raviser, se rebeller, se réfugier, se réincarner, se repentir, se souvenir, se suicider, se tapir…

2. Verbs that change their meaning in their pronominal form

A few verbs have two forms: pronominal and standard. Depending on which one we use, the verb has a different meaning.

Examples:

As-tu rendu tes livres à la bibliothèque ?Did you return your books to the library?

rendre = to give something back

Est-ce que tu t’es rendu à la bibliothèque ?Did you go to the library?

se rendre = to go somewhere

Common examples of verbs that change their meaning in their pronominal form include: apercevoir/s’apercevoir de, appeler/s’appeler, attendre/s’attendre à, connaître/s’y connaître en, douter/se douter de, entendre/s’entendre, faire/se faire à, mettre/se mettre à, passer/se passer, plaindre/, se plaindre de, rendre/se rendre à, tromper/se tromper, trouver/se trouver, servir/se servir…

3. Reflexive verbs

Reflexive verbs (les verbes prominaux de sens réfléchi) are verbs where the the subject and the object are one and the same; the verb reflects back on the person(s) performing it.

Example:

Marcel s’est levé de bonne heure.Marcel got up early.

literally: Marcel got himself up early

4. Reciprocal verbs

With reciprocal verbs (les verbes pronominaux de sens réciproque), the reflexive pronoun means 'each other', meaning that these verbs are only ever used in the plural.

Common examples of French reciprocal verbs include: se battre, se donner, s’entendre, s’envoyer, se lancer, se parler, se réconcilier, se rencontrer, se téléphoner…

Examples:

Tamara et sa sœur se sont téléphoné la semaine dernière.Tamara and her sister spoke on the phone last week.

Nous nous battons parfois mais nous nous réconcilions toujours.We fight sometimes but we always make up.

5. Pronominal verbs with a passive meaning

We can use certain verbs with a reflexive pronoun to give them a passive meaning (les verbes pronominaux de sens passif).

Examples:

Le t de mot ne se prononce pas.The t in the word mot isn’t pronounced.

= n’est pas prononcé

Cette soupe se déguste chaude ou froide.This soup can be eaten hot or cold.

= peut être déguestée