Language/French/Grammar/Reflexive-use-of-me,-te,-se,-nous,-vous

Reflexive use of me, te, se, nous, vous

Where me, te, se, nous, vous refer to the subject of the verb to which they are attached, they are being used reflexively. This use can correspond to English 'my-, your-, him-, her-, it-, oneself; our-, your-, themselves':

• Michel adore se regarder dans les vitrines

Michel loves looking at himself in shop windows

• Je me connais

I know myself

• Vous vous critiquez trop

You are too critical of yourselves

Once you've mastered this lesson, take a look at these related pages: Possessive determiners, Omission of the article, Colour adjective compounds & Adjectifs possessifs.

Other Lessons

• Combinations of adjectives
• Relations between verbs and their complements
• on as an alternative to the English passive
• Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives — No change in written or spoken French
• Subjunctive Mood
• Imperative mood
• Pronominal Verbs Agreement
• Collective nouns
• Pronominal verbs and body parts
• Plural forms of adjectives — The normal case
• Subject–Verb Agreement
• Use of the definite article to indicate a habitual action
• The plural indefinite article des
• Direct object quantifiers and « en »
• Easy way of generating the imperative mood