Language/French/Grammar/Pronominal-verbs-used-reciprocally

When pronominal verbs are used reciprocally

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Definitions

Pronominal Verbs

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.

• More on pronominal verbs.

Reciprocal Verbs

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.

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• More on reciprocal verbs

Reflexive verbs

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

• Tu te laves.

You wash yourself.

Pronominal Verbs used Reciprocally

Reciprocal verbs are pronominal verbs, which means that they have both subject and reflective pronouns. In the case of reciprocal verbs, the reflexive pronoun indicates that the action of the verb is exchanged between two or more subjects acting on each other.

When a pronominal verb is used in the plural and describes a situation where several subjects are doing things to each other, it is being used reciprocally.

Examples

Direct Object Pronoun

• Habituellement, les journalistes se consultent avant de publier ce genre d'article polémique

Usually, journalists consult each other before publishing this kind of controversial article.

• Ils se donneront rendez-vous à la station Opéra à Paris

They will meet at the Opéra metro station in Paris

• Nous nous connaissons déjà bien depuis 5 ans

We have known each other well for 5 years

• Les enfants se disputent souvent quand ils sont fatigués

Children often argue (with each other) when they are tired

Indirect Object Pronoun

The pronoun can be a direct object, as in the examples above, or an indirect object, as in the following examples:

• Souvent les personnes s'écrivent pour restent en contact

Often people write to one another to keep in touch

• Il a été demandé aux enfants de se poser les bonnes questions sans demander au professeur

Children were asked to ask themselves the right questions without asking the teacher

• Nous nous envoyons un cadeau à chaque vacance de Noël

We send each other a gift every Christmas holiday

Ambiguity

Sometimes there is an ambiguity about considering the pronoun as reflexive or reciprocal. Example :

• Les joueurs se sont fait très mal

The players hurt each other very badly

or

The boxers hurt themselves very badly

(i.e. each hurt himself but not the other)

• Les étudiants se sont posé des questions

The students asked each other questions

or

The participants asked questions of themselves

"l'un l'autre"

One way to make reciprocity very clear is by adding the phrase "l'un l'autre" (each other).

Direct Object

For example, with a direct object:

• Les joueurs se sont blessés l'un l'autre

The players hurt each other

Indirect Object

But with an indirect object:

• Les étudiants se sont posé des questions l'un à l'autre

The students asked each other questions

Variations in Gender & Number

"l'un l'autre" also varies in gender and number. If the subjects are feminine "l'une l'autre" is required:

• Nous nous aidons l'une l'autre pour la garde des enfants

We help each other out with looking after the children If more than just two subjects are involved a plural form of "l'un l'autre" is required:

• Les chefs d'entreprise du groupe peuvent se contacter les uns les autres via une plateforme sécurisée

Group business leaders can contact each other via a secure platform

Other Chapters

Table of Contents

Nouns

• Types
• Gender
• Plural

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Determiners

• Articles
• Typical use of the definite article
• Typical use of the indefinite article
• The partitive article: du, de l', de la, des
• Use of indefinite and partitive articles after the negative forms ne... pas, ne... jamais, ne... plus, ne... guère
• Omission of the article
• Demonstrative determiners
• Possessive determiners

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Personal and impersonal pronouns

• Subject pronouns
• Object pronouns
• Stressed pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Possessive pronouns

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Adjectives

• Adjectives modifying the noun
• Adjectives which follow verbs or verbal expressions
• Adjectives with complements
• Indefinite and negative noun phrases with adjective complements
• Adjectives used as nouns
• Adjectives used as adverbs
• Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives
• Plural forms of adjectives
• Adjective agreement with nouns
• Invariable adjectives
• Compound adjectives
• Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives
• Subjunctive versus indicative in clauses dependent on a superlative adjective
• Absolute use of the superlative

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Adverbs

• Function of adverbs
• Formation of adverbs with the ending -ment
• Adjectives used as adverbs without addition of -ment
• Phrases used as adverbs
• English and French adverb formation
• Types of adverbs
• Location of adverbs

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Numbers, measurements, time and quantifiers

• Cardinal numbers
• Ordinal numbers
• Fractions
• Some differences in the use of cardinal and ordinal numbers in French and English
• Measurements and comparisons
• Dates, days, years
• Clock time
• Money
• Quantifiers

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Verb forms

• Conjugations
• Easy ways of generating some parts of the paradigms
• Changes in the stem form of some -er conjugation verbs
• Verbs whose stems end in c- or g-
• Verb paradigms

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Verb constructions

• Relations between verbs and their complements
• Intransitive constructions
• Directly transitive verbs
• Indirectly transitive verbs
• Ditransitive verbs
• The passive
• Pronominal verbs
• Impersonal verbs
• Verbs which take noun + adjective or noun + noun complements

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Verb and participle agreement

• Subject-verb agreement
• Agreement of the past participle with the subject of être
• Agreement of the past participle of verbs conjugated with avoir with a preceding direct object
• Agreement of the past participle of pronominal verbs in compound tenses

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Tense

• The present
• The past
• The future
• Other tenses indicating the time at which events occur relative to other events
• Combining tenses
• Tenses in direct and reported descriptions of events
• Tenses with si

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The subjunctive, modal verbs, exclamatives and imperatives

• The attitude of the subject to events: the subjunctive
• The use of devoir, pouvoir, savoir, falloir
• The French equivalents of the English modal verbs: 'would', 'should', 'could', 'may', 'might', 'ought to', and 'must'
• Exclamatives
• Imperatives

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The infinitive

• Introduction: what are infinitives?
• Infinitives as complements to other verbs
• Verbs which take infinitive complements without a linking preposition
• Verbs which take infinitive complements preceded by the preposition à
• Verbs which take an infinitive complement preceded by de
• Omission of objects before infinitives
• Infinitives as complements to adjectives
• Infinitives as complements to nouns
• Infinitives in subordinate clauses
• Infinitives as polite commands
• Quick-reference index to verbs taking infinitive complements

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Prepositions

• Introduction
• Prepositions listed alphabetically from à to vers
• French translations for common English prepositions

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Question formation

• Introduction
• Yes/no questions
• Information questions
• Order of object pronouns in questions involving inversion
• Order of negative particles in questions involving inversion
• Use of question words and phrases: qui?, que?, quoi?, quel?, de qui?, avec combien de? etc.
• Indirect questions

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Relative clauses

• Introduction
• Use of relative qui
• Use of relative que
• Preposition plus qui
• Use of lequel in relative clauses
• Use of dont, de qui, duquel/de laquelle/desquels/desquelles
• The use of où as a relative pronoun
• Use of relative quoi
• Free relative clauses and the use of ce qui, ce que, ce dont, ce à quoi, ce sur quoi, etc.
• Translating 'whoever', 'whatever', 'wherever', 'whenever', 'however'
• Indicative and subjunctive in relative clauses

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Negation

• Introduction
• Location of sentence negators
• Order of negators in multiple negation
• Omission of ne in sentence negation
• Order of negative elements in questions and imperatives
• ne... pas
• ne... que
• ne... aucun(e), ne... nul(le)
• ne... jamais
• ne... plus
• ne... guère
• ne... rien
• ne... personne
• ne... ni... ni
• sans used with other negators
• ne used alone

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Conjunctions and other linking constructions

• Introduction
• Coordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions
• Conjunctions sometimes confused by English speakers
• Repeated subordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions used with infinitive clauses
• après avoir/ être + past participle linking an infinitive clause to a main clause
• Past participle phrases used as linkers
• Present participles and gerunds