Reflexive Verbs
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• Reflexive verbs work like all other verbs that have pronouns.
• The reflexive pronouns are: me, te, se, nous, vous, se
• Position of pronouns:
(a) The pronoun precedes the conjugated verb (the one that has a subject; a past participle has no subject).
(b) Nothing separates the pronoun from its verb (including negatives)
Examples:
• Passé composé reflexives are conjugated with être but agree (like avoir vbs.) with the preceding D.O. Normally, the reflexive pronoun is the D.O., but not always (e.g., I cut myself. "Cut what?" "Myself"=D.O.; I cut my finger. "Cut what?" finger=D.O., and in this example does not precede.)
Il s'est coupé.
Elle s'est coupée.
Elle s'est coupé le bras. (D.O., "bras", does not precede the verb, therefore no agreement in past part.)
Il ne s'est pas coupé.
S'est-il coupé?
Ne s'est-il pas coupé?
• In a positive command, te (t') becomes toi: Lève-toi!
In a negative command, it stays in the regular form and position: Ne
te lève pas.
• Reflexive verbs can either reflect the subject (see above), or they may be reciprocal (between two people/groups/etc.).
--Elle s'est levée tôt. (She got herself up.)
--Nous nous sommes rencontrés. (We ran into each other. Nous = D.O., therefore agreement in past part.)
--Nous nous sommes parlé. (We spoke to each other. N.B.: Nous is an indirect obj., not a D.O., therefore no agreement in past part.--We didn't "speak each other", we spoke "to each other". We spoke reciprocally, me to you and you to me.)
• Reflexive verbs can express passive voice: Cela ne se fait pas. = "That is not done." (In active voice, the subject does the verb's action. In passive voice, the subj. does not do the verb's action. E.g., Active: "John ate cake." (John did the eating.) vs. Passive: "The cake was eaten (by John)." (The cake didn't eat anything; it was eaten by the agent, John.)
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