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

Reflexive and reciprocal pronominal verbs

What is a pronominal verb?

Pronominal verbs ("Les verbes pronominaux" in French), of which there are several categories, are verbs that are constructed with a reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous) of the same person as the subject. This pronoun is always placed before the verb.

Reflexive & Reciprocal pronominal verbs

Video

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.

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 ...)