French uses reflexive (or pronominal) verbs when the subject of the verb performs the action on itself: I wash myself or the dog scratches itself. It is easy to recognize a reflexive verb in French. Se or s' comes before the infinitive: >se <laver (to wash oneself) or <{s'}habiller (to dress oneself). Se (or s') is called a reflexive pronoun. As you can see from these examples, a lot of verbs can be used as normal verbs (laver, habiller) or as reflexive verbs. What makes the conjugation of a verb reflexive is the combination of the subject (a noun or a pronoun) and the reflexive pronouns used in the same person of the conjugation:
^4 REFLEXIVE^6 ENGLISH
^2 SUBJECT^4 PRONOUN^6 EQUIVALENT
1st person sing^2 Je^4 me or m'^6 I ... myself
2nd person sing^2 Tu^4 te or t'^6 You ... yourself
3rd person sing^2 Il^4 se or s'^6 He ... himself
^2 Elle^4 se or s'^6 She ... herself
^2 On^4 se or s'^6 One ... oneself
1st person plur^2 Nous^4 nous^6 We ... ourselves
2nd person plur^2 Vous^4 vous^6 You ... yourself
3rd person plur^2 Ils, Elles^4 se or s'^6 They ... themselves
If a subject (noun or pronoun) is combined with a pronoun from a different person of the conjugation, you are not using a reflexive construction (if this is the case, you need to go to Program III lesson 4 and study the object pronouns).
French has a very important rule about the placement of the reflexive pronoun. It must be placed in front of the verb it modifies (the only exception to this rule is discussed later on in this lesson under the heading "Expressing the imperative in French").
Therefore a reflexive conjugation is as follows:
Model: se reposer (to rest oneself)
Je^2 me^3 repose^5 (I rest myself)
Tu^2 te^3 reposes^5 (You rest yourself)
Il^2 se^3 repose^5 (He rests himself)
Elle^2 se^3 repose^5 (She rests herself)
On^2 se^3 repose^5 (One rests oneself)
Nous^2 nous^3 reposons^5 (We rest ourselves)
Vous^2 vous^3 reposez^5 (You rest yourself)
Ils^2 se^3 reposent^5 (They rest themselves)
Elles^2 se^3 reposent^5 (They rest themselves)
Do not forget that the French reflexive pronoun is placed in front of the verb it modifies while the English equivalent is placed afterwards!
Sometimes the pronominal verb is called a reciprocal verbs. This happens in the plural conjugation and translates the idea of "each other" as in nous nous tΘlΘphonons (we call each other).
The negative construction of a reflexive (or reciprocal) is as follows:
Je^1 ne^2 me^3 repose^4 pas^5 I do not rest myself
Tu^1 ne^2 te^3 reposes^4 pas^5 You do not rest yourself
Il^1 ne^2 se^3 repose^4 pas^5 He does not rest himself
Elle^1 ne^2 se^3 repose^4 pas^5 She does not rest herself
On^1 ne^2 se^3 repose^4 pas^5 One does not rest herself
Nous^1 ne^2 nous^3 reposons^4 pas^5 We do not rest ourselves
Vous^1 ne^2 vous^3 reposez^4 pas^5 You do not rest yourselves
Ils^1 ne^2 se^3 reposent^4 pas^5 They do not rest themselves
Elles^1 ne^2 se^3 reposent^4 pas^5 They do not rest themselves
The interrogative construction of a reflexive (or reciprocal) verb is as follows (with negative in parentheses):
For instance, in English the fourth question is translated affirmatively as: Does she rest herself? This same question in the negative means: Doesn't she rest herself?
reflexive subject
2. (Ne) + pronoun + verb + - + pronoun + (pas) ?
*** most verbs (reflexive or not) do not use this construction for `je. Use above construction instead***
(Ne)^2 te^3 reposes -^5 tu^6 (pas) ?
(Ne)^2 se^3 repose -t-^5 il^6 (pas) ?
(Ne)^2 se^3 repose -t-^5 elle^6 (pas) ?
(Ne)^2 se^3 repose -t-^5 on^6 (pas) ?
(Ne)^2 nous^3 reposons -^5 nous^6 (pas) ?
(Ne)^2 vous^3 reposez -^5 vous^6 (pas) ?
(Ne)^2 se^3 reposent -^5 ils^6 (pas) ?
(Ne)^2 se^3 reposent -^5 elles^6 (pas) ?
Here again the fourth question is translated affirmatively in English as: Does she rest herself? This same question in the negative means: Doesn't she rest herself?
As you can see, a French question can begin with a pronoun ( `te reposes-tu?). Also, there is nothing wrong for a negative question to begin in French with the negation ( `ne te reposes-tu pas?).
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Expressing the imperative.
In French the imperative is used to express a command. It can only be used with the tu, the nous and the vous forms of the conjugation of the verb. The imperative of the verb is based on its present conjugation in these three persons. The only exception to this rule is that -ER verbs (regular and irregular) will drop the final -s in the tu form of the imperative. Look at the examples:
-ER verb:^2 mange ta soupe!^5 (eat your soup, familiar)
^2 mangeons notre soupe!^5 (let us eat our soup)
^2 mangez votre soupe!^5 (eat your soup, formal)
-IR verb:^2 finis l'exercice!^5 (finish the exercise, fam)
^2 finissons l'exercice!^5 (let's finish the exercise)
^2 finissez l'exercice!^5 (finish the exercise, formal)
-RE verb:^2 vends la citronnade!^5 (sell the lemonade)
^2 vendons la citronnade!^5 (let's sell the lemonade)
^2 vendez la citronnade!^5 (sell the lemonade)
Imperatives are made negative by placing the negation around the modified verb:
Ne mangeons pas notre soupe!^5 (let's not eat your soup)
Ne finis pas l'exercice^5 (don't finish the exercise)
Ne vendez pas la citronnade^5 (do not sell the lemonade)
It is impossible to express an imperative as a question as an imperative is an command!
Some French verbs do not follow this pattern: avoir (to have), Ωtre (to be) and savoir (to know):
avoir:^2 aie^3 Ωtre:^4 sois^5 savoir:^6 sache
^2 ayons^4 soyons^6 sachons
^2 ayez^4 soyez^6 sachez
Be careful in using reflexive (or reciprocal) verbs (see above in this section "Conjugating reflexive verbs in the present tense") in the imperative.
Affirmative reflexive (or reciprocal) verbs used in the imperative place their reflexive pronouns after the verb form with a hyphen <(this <is <the <only <case <in <French <grammar <when <a <pronoun <other <than <a <subject <pronoun <can <be <placed <after <the <verb <it <modifies). Negative reflexive (or reciprocal) verbs place their reflexive pronouns in front of the verb form, as it the normal rule in French. The negation is placed around the verb and ne comes before the reflexive pronoun. Look at the examples below:
AFFIRMATIVE^4 NEGATIVE
Reposez{-vous} maintenant!^4 Ne `vous reposez pas
(rest yourselves now)^4 (do not rest yourselves)
TΘlΘphonons{-nous} ce soir!^4 Ne `nous tΘlΘphonons pas!
(let's call each other tonight)^4 (let's not call each other)
The two reflexive pronouns, nous and vous, do not change when used in an affirmative or negative construction in the imperative. Although you must still use the hyphen, there is a change of form of te when it is used in an affirmative construction in the imperative:
AFFIRMATIVE^4 NEGATIVE
RΘveille{-toi} α 8 heures!^4 Ne `te rΘveille pas α 8 heures!
(wake up at 8 o'clock)^4 (don't wake up at 8 o'clock)
"Quelle heure est-il?" is the question to use when you want to know the date.
There is one simple way to express a date in French:
Quelle est la date aujourd'hui?
Aujourd'hui, c'est le 29 avril 1952.
Obviously this is a made up date, but it shows the correct way to express a date in French. Never forget that:
1. The number always comes before the month:^5 `29 mars
2. The month is not capitalized:^5 {m}ars
3. There is no de between the number and the month:^5 `29 `mars
4. There is no comma before the year:^5 `mars `1952
5. The numbers in the date are not spelled out:^5 `29 `, `1952
The numbers used in a French date are always cardinal numbers (2, 5, 14, etc.) unless you are using the first day of the month in which case you must use le premier (the first).
The simplest way to pronounce the number for the year is to do the following:
1952 is composed of two numbers 19 and 52 and add the word cent (100) in between. Therefore 1952 is 19 (dix-neuf) [cent] 52 (cinquante-deux).
1851 = 18^2 (dix-huit)^3 [cent]^4 51 (cinquante et un)
