Français II/Leçon 3 - Common Irregular Verbs; Reflexive Verbs

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Français II

Lessons in Français II

Common irregular verbs

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

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.