Français II/Leçon 3 - Common Irregular Verbs; Reflexive Verbs
 Courses in French
| |
| Course #1: | Français I |
| Course #2: | Français II |
| Course #3: | Français III |
| Course #4: | Français IV |
Français II
Lessons in Français II
- Leçon 1 - The Perfect Tense
- Leçon 2 - Starting to understand the French pronoun
- Leçon 3 - Common Irregular Verbs; Reflexive Verbs
- Leçon 4 - The Simple Future
Common irregular verbs
[edit | edit source]Irregular verbs have slightly different conjugation rules then other verbs. So far you have already encountered avoir and être as the first two, but there are other verbs that change wildly.
Aller:
- Je vais
- Tu vas
- Il va
- Nous allons
- Vous allez
- Ils vont
Venir:
- Je viens
- Tu viens
- Il vient
- Nous venons
- Vous venez
- Ils viennent
Reflexive verbs
[edit | edit source]Reflexive verbs is used with a pronoun that indicates the same person or thing as the subject. In French, a reflexive verb is called verbe pronominal réfléchi.
Let's take the example of the verb se lever which means to get up.
Se lever:
- Je me lève
- Tu te lèves
- Il se lève
- Nous nous levons
- Vous vous levez
- Ils se lèvent
Some commonly used reflexive verbs are:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| se lever | to get up |
| se réveiller | to wake up |
| se baigner | to bathe |
| se laver | to wash |
| se raser | to shave |
| s'enfuir | to flee |
| s'évanouir | to faint |
| se souvenir | to remember |
| se suicider | to commit suicide |
| s'asseoir | to sit down |
| s'arrêter | to stop |
| s'habiller | to get dressed |
Some verbs are exclusively reflexive: se suicider, se souvenir, s'enfuir, s'évanouir ...
Some others can be both reflexive and non-reflexive. If the action can be performed on someone else, the verb looses its reflexivity. For example: Je me lave I wash myself. And Je lave mon chien I wash my dog.