Just like Dutch, French also features reflexive verbs. However, French would not be French if there were not a few things to keep in mind.
Reflexive verbs can be recognized by the pronouns that accompany the verb. For example, ‘to wash oneself’. In French, you have the following reflexive pronouns:
to wash oneself – se laver
I wash myself – Je me lave
You wash yourself – Tu te laves
He/she washes himself/herself – Il/ elle se lave
We wash ourselves – Nous nous lavons
You wash yourself / You wash yourselves – Vous vous lavez
They wash themselves – Ils / elles se lavent
In English, it is less common, but in French, it is perfectly normal to think to oneself or say something to oneself. For this, you use ‘se dire’.
Je me dis (I think/I say to myself)
Tu te dis
Il/elle se dit
Nous nous disons
Vous vous dites
Ils/elles se disent
If you make a mistake, you use ‘se tromper’. Please note: if you forget that the verb is reflexive, some verbs take on a different meaning.
se tromper = to make a mistake / to be wrong
tromper = to deceive / to cheat
s’appeler = to be called / to name (oneself)
appeler = to call / to phone
Passé composé
In the passé composé, reflexive verbs are always conjugated with être. The verb agrees, as you are accustomed to:
Je me suis lavé(e)
Tu t’es lavé
Il s’est lavé
Elle s’est lavée
On s’est lavé(s) (the ‘s’ depends on whether ‘on’ refers to ‘one’ or ‘we’)
Nous nous sommes lavé(e)s
Vous vous êtes lavé(e)(s)
Ils se sont lavés
Elles se sont lavées
Negation
In a negation, the reflexive pronoun is placed between ‘ne’ and the second part of the negation (such as ‘pas’, ‘rien’, ‘jamais’, etc.).
Il ne se lave pas. (He does not wash himself)
Je ne me repose jamais. (I never rest)
If the negation is in the passé composé, être follows the reflexive pronoun, and the past participle follows the second part of the negation.
Elle ne s’est pas trompée. (She was not mistaken)
Learning by heart
In French, there are also verbs that are not reflexive in English.
– se promener – to walk / to go for a walk
– se brosser les dents – to brush one’s teeth
– se lever – to get up
– se coucher – to go to bed / to go to sleep
– se réveiller – to wake up
– s’en aller – to leave / to go away
– s’y connaître – to be knowledgeable about / to know one’s stuff
Conversely, there are also verbs that are reflexive in Dutch but not in French.
– to be ashamed (of) – rougir, avoir honte de, être honteux
– to oversleep – dormir trop longtemps
– to choke / to swallow the wrong way – avaler de travers
Not ‘oneself’ but ‘each other’
There are verbs where the addition of ‘se’ does not mean ‘oneself’, but ‘each other’.
– se voir – to see each other
– se connaître – to know each other
– se battre – to hit each other (to fight with each other)
– se disputer – to argue with each other
Please note: you cannot always translate ‘each other’ with ‘se’. In those cases, you use: l’un de l’autre.
Nous comptons sur l’autre. (We count on each other)
