Language/French/Grammar/Reflexive-and-reciprocal-verbs

Reflexive and reciprocal verbs

Reflexive pronominal verb

A reflexive pronominal verb expresses an action that the subject does on himself:

• Tu te laves.

You wash yourself.

Reciprocal pronominal verb

The reciprocal pronominal verb expresses an action both accomplished and received by each of the actors in the action.

• Toutes les étudiants se sont regardés.

All the students looked at each other.

Not all pronominal verbs are reflective or reciprocal

There are:

• Essentially pronominal verbs like: "se souvenir", "s'abstenir", "s'en aller" ... (to remember, to abstain, to go away ...)
• Passive pronominal verbs such as: "se fabriquer", "se faire", "se vendre" .... (to build, to make, to sell ...)
• Active verbs that change their meaning in the pronominal form, such as: "s'attraquer à", "se passer de" ... (to tackle, to do without ...)

Video: reflexive and reciprocal verbs

1. Reflexive verbs are very common in French. All you need to know is which reflective pronoun to use and where it goes in the sentence (including the negative sentence).
2. Reciprocal verbs are a form of pronominal verbs. Reflexive or pronominal verbs are used in all tenses.