Grammaire 2: passé composé avec être (2)
On étudie !
Reflexive verbs
If you remember, a reflexive verb is a verb in which the subject performs the action on themselves. Often, these verbs are routine actions who actions is performed onto oneself. In the infinitive form, these verbs have the reflexive pronoun se or s’. Ie. se raser: je me rase, tu te rases, il se rase, etc. (I shave myself, you shave yourself, he shaves himself, etc.)
Full conjugaison of se raser (to shave oneself) in the present tense:
| je me rase | nous nous rasons |
| tu te rases | vous vous rasez |
| il se rase, elle se rase, on se rase | ils se rasent |
The passé composé of reflexive verbs
The passé composé of all reflexive verbs is formed with être.
Full conjugaison of se raser (to shave oneself) in the passé composé:
| je me suis rasé(e) | nous nous sommes rasé(e)s |
| tu t’es rasé(e) | vous vous êtes rasé(e)(s) |
| il s’est rasé, elle s’est rasée, on s’est rasés | ils se sont rasés, elles se sont rasées |
Notes:
a) The reflexive pronoun (such as ‘me‘ or ‘te, ‘t’ ‘ in the examples above) goes in front of the être auxiliary.
b) Since you are using être, the past participles of reflexive verbs usually agree in gender and number with the subject. The agreement with the subject happens most of the time and if you are curious as to the exception to this rule, feel free to watch the video in the additional resource section below (we will not fuss too much about the exceptions in this beginner level course).
c) The negation ne…pas goes around both the reflexive pronoun and the être auxiliary. Notice the placement of the reflexive pronoun and that of the negation in the examples below:
-Julie, est-ce que tu t’es lavée ce matin?
(se laver)
(Julie, did you wash yourself this morning?)
-Non, je ne me suis pas lavée ce matin parce que je me suis douchée hier soir. Je me suis levée tard ce matin tard!
(se laver, se doucher, se lever)
(No, I did not wash myself this morning but I showered myself last night. I woke up late this morning.)
