French Grammar in Context

Discover more about pronominal verbs

1 USAGE

aPronominal verbs may be used reciprocallyin the pluralto describe a situation where the

subjects are doing things to each other.

e.g. Nous nous écrivons souvent

b A number of common pronominal verbs have no particular reflexive or reciprocal meaning.

These are the most frequently used.

s’abstenir to refrain s’imaginer to imagine

s’adresser à to address, speak to se méfier de to mistrust

s’apercevoir de to notice se moquer de to mock, laugh at

se dépêcher to hurry se noyer to drown

se douter de to suspect se plaindre to complain

s’écrier to cry out se presser to hurry

s’en aller to go away se promener to go for a walk

s’enfuir to flee se rappeler to remember

s’enrhumer to catch cold se réfugier to take refuge

s’évader to escape se sentir to feel

s’évanouir to faint se servir de to use

se fâcher to get angry se rendre à to go to

se fier à to trust se souvenir de to remember

In these cases the past participle agrees with the subject.

c When a part of the body is used with a pronominal verb (e.g. se laver les cheveux), the

possessive adjective is not used as in English. It is replaced by a definite article.

e.g.Je me lave les cheveux

2 FORMATION

a All moods (indicative, subjunctive, imperative) and all tenses – active and passive – are

possible, as with non-pronominal verbs.

b Negatives are split and placed before and after the reflexive pronoun + verb.

e.g. Elle nes’activepas

except in compound tenses where the negative comes before and after être.

e.g. Elle ne s’estpasactivée

c Agreement of past participles

Following the rule of agreement of the past participle with avoir (see Chapter 2), the past

participle of pronominal verbs does not agree with a preceding indirect object.

e.g. Elle s’est coupée(s’ is a direct object)

Elle s’est coupé le doigt(le doigtis the direct object, s’ is an indirect object = à elle)

130 French Grammar in Context