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French Conjugation

Passé Composé with Reflexive Verbs

Forming the past tense of pronominal (reflexive) verbs with the auxiliary être and applying past participle agreement.

Level A2 Category Conjugation

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Lesson Summary

Forming the past tense of pronominal (reflexive) verbs with the auxiliary être and applying past participle agreement.

Conjugation

Reflexive Verbs in the Passé Composé

Pronominal (reflexive) verbs are introduced in pronominal and reflexive verbs. In the passé composé, all pronominal verbs use the auxiliary être. The past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject, following the same rules presented in the passé composé with être.

Conjugation of Se Lever (to get up)

Subject	Reflexive Pronoun	Auxiliary	Past Participle	Full Form
je	me (m')	suis	levé(e)	Je me suis levé(e).
tu	t'	es	levé(e)	Tu t'es levé(e).
il / elle / on	s'	est	levé(e)	Il s'est levé. Elle s'est levée.
nous	nous	sommes	levé(e)s	Nous nous sommes levé(e)s.
vous	vous	êtes	levé(e)(s)	Vous vous êtes levé(e)(s).
ils / elles	se (s')	sont	levé(e)s	Ils se sont levés. Elles se sont levées.

Agreement of the Past Participle

The past participle of a pronominal verb agrees with the subject. Feminine singular adds -e, plural adds -s, and feminine plural adds -es.

- Elle s'est lavée.
- Nous nous sommes promenés.

When the verb is followed by a direct object, the participle does not agree with the subject (this rule will be examined in detail at a later stage). For the current lesson, the reflexive pronoun functions as the direct object, so the standard subject agreement applies.

Negation

The reflexive pronoun remains before the auxiliary, and the negation ne…pas encloses the entire unit: pronoun + auxiliary + past participle.

- Je ne me suis pas levé(e).
- Elle ne s'est pas coiffée.
- Nous ne nous sommes pas amusés.

For the general structure of negation, see basic negation.

Examples

Hier, je me suis levé à sept heures et je me suis préparé rapidement.
Two reflexive verbs in the passé composé: se lever and se préparer.
Elles se sont reposées après le dîner.
Feminine plural subject: the participle reposées agrees with elles.

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These are the main phrases this lesson covers:

Passé Composé with Reflexive VerbsForming the past tense of pronominal (reflexive) verbs with the auxiliary être and applying past participle agreement.Conjugate reflexive verbs in the passé composé, placing the reflexive pronoun before the auxiliary and agreeing the participle with the subject.ConjugationA2conjugationLearn French ConjugationFrench ConjugationReflexive Verbs in the Passé ComposéPronominal (reflexive) verbs are introduced in pronominal and reflexive verbs. In the passé composé, all pronominal verbs use the auxiliary être. The past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject, following the same rules presented in the passé composé with être.