French Reflexive Pronouns
- myself, yourself, him/herself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves.

French Reflexive Pronouns and Verbs

In the French language, there are certain verbs that are considered reflexive and they use the French Possessive Pronouns to show that the object of the verb is the same as the subject - so that one does something to oneself.

If you say “I brush teeth” (je brosse les dents), you would be saying is that "I brush all the teeth in the world".


To say “I brush my teeth”, you have to say, “je me brosse les dents.” This translates literally as: I brush myself the teeth”.

The French Reflexive Pronouns are:

French Reflexive Pronouns
English Subject English Reflexive Pronoun French Subject French Reflexive Pronoun
I (to) myself je me
you (informal, singular) (to) yourself tu te
he/she/it (to) him/her/its/
one-self
il/elle/on se
we (to) ourselves nous nous
you (formal) (to) yourself/yourselves vous vous
they (to) themselves ils/elles se

me, te, se change to m' , t' , s' before a vowel or the letter 'h'.

the French Reflexive Pronouns can be either direct or indirect objects.

the reflexive pronouns go before the verb.

When conjugated a reflexive verb in the passé composé, reflexive verbs use être, not avoir, and the past participle must agree in number and gender with the subject.

Verbs that are reflexive appear in their infinitive form with the reflexive pronoun se. The more common reflexive verbs are:

French verb English
se brosser to brush oneself
s’habiller to dress oneself
se déshabiller to undress oneself
se réveiller to wake oneself
s’asseoir to sit down
se coucher to go to bed
se doucher to take a shower
se casser to break, like a bone
se marier to get married
se souvenir de to remember

Some examples of French Possessive Pronouns:


Je me réveille à 7 heures. - I wake up at 7 o’clock. (literally, I wake myself up).
Tu t’assieds ici. - You sit here. (you sit yourself here).
Elle se marie avec Jacques. - She is marrying Jacques. (she is marrying herself to Jacques).
Nous nous souvenons votre nom. - We remember your name. (we remember ourselves your name).
Vous vous se couchez à quelle heure? - You go to bed at what time? (You put yourself to bed at what time?)
Ils se douchent chaque matin. - They shower every morning. (They shower themselves every morning).




More French grammar lessons like this one French Possessive Pronouns

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