French grammar · Advanced
Essentially Pronominal Verbs in French: The Verbs That Only Exist with Se
A small group of French verbs exists only in the pronominal form: there is no verb souvenir or évanouir, only se souvenir and s'évanouir. Because the pronoun is part of the verb rather than an object, these verbs always take être and their past participle always agrees with the subject.
Elle s'est évanouie dans le métro, mais elle ne s'en souvient plus.
She fainted on the metro, but she doesn't remember it any more.
What it is
Most pronominal verbs are ordinary verbs with a pronoun added: laver exists, and se laver is laver turned back on the subject. Essentially pronominal verbs have no such base form. The se is not doing anything to anyone; it is simply part of the word, in the same way the up in to give up cannot be removed.
Je me souviens de lui. — I remember him. (there is no verb souvenir on its own)
How to spot it
Try removing the pronoun. If what is left is not a French verb at all, you are dealing with an essentially pronominal verb, and the participle will agree with the subject in every compound tense.
- Ils se sont enfuis par la fenêtre. — They fled through the window.
- Elle s'est évanouie de fatigue. — She fainted from exhaustion.
- Nous nous sommes moqués de lui. — We made fun of him.
- Elle s'en est allée sans rien dire. — She went off without a word.
Because the pronoun cannot be analysed as a direct or indirect object, the usual agreement debate never arises: these participles simply match the subject.
Essentially Pronominal Verbs Quick Reference
The ones you will actually meet
| Verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| s'en aller | to leave, to go off | Je m'en vais. — I'm off. |
| se souvenir de | to remember | Je me souviens de lui. — I remember him. |
| se moquer de | to make fun of | Il se moque de moi. — He's making fun of me. |
| se méfier de | to be wary of | Méfie-toi de lui. — Be careful of him. |
| s'évanouir | to faint | Elle s'est évanouie. — She fainted. |
| s'enfuir | to run away | Ils se sont enfuis. — They ran away. |
| s'efforcer de | to strive to | Je m'efforce de comprendre. — I'm trying hard to understand. |
| se raviser | to change one's mind | Il s'est ravisé. — He changed his mind. |
Common Essentially Pronominal Verbs Examples in French
The core verbs in ordinary sentences:
Leaving and Fleeing
- Je m'en vais, il est tard.
- I'm off, it's late.
- Ils se sont enfuis avant l'arrivée de la police.
- They fled before the police arrived.
- Ne t'en va pas maintenant.
- Don't go now.
- Elle s'en est allée à l'aube.
- She left at dawn.
S'en aller carries an extra en that never disappears. It is part of the verb, not a pronoun replacing anything.
Remembering and Forgetting
- Je me souviens de ce jour-là.
- I remember that day.
- Tu te souviens de mon frère ?
- Do you remember my brother?
- Elle ne s'en souvient plus.
- She doesn't remember it any more.
- Souviens-toi de m'appeler ce soir.
- Remember to call me this evening.
Se souvenir always takes de before its complement, whether that is a noun, a pronoun, or an infinitive.
Attitudes Towards Others
- Ne te moque pas de lui.
- Don't make fun of him.
- Méfie-toi des apparences.
- Don't trust appearances.
- Il s'efforce de rester calme.
- He's making an effort to stay calm.
- On se soucie peu de son avis.
- Nobody much cares about his opinion.
This group all take de: se moquer de, se méfier de, s'efforcer de, se soucier de, se douter de.
Agreement in the Past
- Elle s'est souvenue de mon nom.
- She remembered my name.
- Ils se sont moqués de nous.
- They made fun of us.
- Nous nous sommes enfuis en courant.
- We ran off.
- Elles se sont entraidées toute la journée.
- They helped each other all day long.
Every one of these agrees with the subject, with no exceptions to memorise and no object to look for.
How These Verbs Behave
Five properties, all of them consequences of the pronoun being part of the verb rather than an object of it.
The Pronoun Is Not an Object
In se laver, the se means oneself. In s'évanouir there is nothing to faint, so the pronoun has no role to play. It simply travels with the verb, changing form to match the subject.
Nous nous méfions de ses promesses.
We're wary of his promises.
The se has no meaning of its own.
Always Être, Always Agreement
Like every pronominal verb, these take être in compound tenses. Unlike the others, they never raise the question of whether the pronoun is direct or indirect, so the participle always agrees with the subject.
Elles se sont enfuies.
They ran away.
Subject agreement, every time.
The Pronoun Changes with the Subject
The infinitive is listed with se, but that se becomes me, te, se, nous, or vous when you conjugate. Forgetting to change it is the most visible beginner error with these verbs.
Je me souviens, tu te souviens, nous nous souvenons.
I remember, you remember, we remember.
me, te, se, nous, vous, se.
Most of Them Carry a Preposition
Se souvenir, se moquer, se méfier, s'efforcer, se soucier, and se douter all take de. That de survives into the pronoun system as en, which is why j'en ai souvenir is wrong but je m'en souviens is right.
Je m'en méfie un peu.
I'm a bit wary of it.
de → en for things, de + toi, lui for people.
S'en Aller Keeps Both Pronouns
S'en aller has a reflexive pronoun and a fixed en. Both have to be placed correctly, and in the imperative they swap sides: va-t'en, allons-nous-en, allez-vous-en.
Allons-nous-en avant qu'il pleuve.
Let's get out of here before it rains.
se + en + aller, all three.
Common Mistakes with Essentially Pronominal Verbs
Incorrect: Je souviens de lui. — I remember him.
Correct: Je me souviens de lui. — I remember him.
There is no verb souvenir without a pronoun. The me is part of the verb itself, so it cannot be dropped the way an English reflexive can.
Incorrect: J'ai souvenu de son nom. — I remembered his name.
Correct: Je me suis souvenu de son nom. — I remembered his name.
Every pronominal verb takes être, not avoir, and the pronoun has to appear in the compound tense too: je me suis, tu t'es, il s'est.
Incorrect: Elle s'est évanoui pendant le concert. — She fainted during the concert.
Correct: Elle s'est évanouie pendant le concert. — She fainted during the concert.
With an essentially pronominal verb the participle always agrees with the subject, so a feminine subject adds an e. There is no object for it to agree with instead.
Incorrect: Je me rappelle de son visage. — I remember his face.
Correct: Je me rappelle son visage. — I remember his face.
Se rappeler takes a direct object; the de belongs to se souvenir. The mixed version is widespread in speech but treated as an error in writing.
Conjugating Two of Them in Full
Se souvenir follows venir, so it is worth seeing whole. S'en aller is irregular in a way no rule predicts, especially in the imperative.
Se Souvenir
The stem behaves exactly like venir: souvien- in the singular, souven- for nous and vous, souvienn- for the third person plural, and souviendr- in the future.
| Pronoun | Présent | Passé composé | Imparfait | Futur |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je me | souviens | suis souvenu(e) | souvenais | souviendrai |
| tu te | souviens | es souvenu(e) | souvenais | souviendras |
| il / elle se | souvient | est souvenu(e) | souvenait | souviendra |
| nous nous | souvenons | sommes souvenu(e)s | souvenions | souviendrons |
| vous vous | souvenez | êtes souvenu(e)(s) | souveniez | souviendrez |
| ils / elles se | souviennent | sont souvenu(e)s | souvenaient | souviendront |
The parentheses show the agreement: je me suis souvenue if the speaker is a woman, ils se sont souvenus for a group of men.
S'en Aller
The verb is aller with two pronouns stapled on. In the compound past the en sits between the reflexive pronoun and the auxiliary, and in the imperative everything moves behind the verb.
| Pronoun | Présent | Passé composé | Impératif |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | m'en vais | m'en suis allé(e) | — |
| tu | t'en vas | t'en es allé(e) | va-t'en |
| il / elle / on | s'en va | s'en est allé(e) | — |
| nous | nous en allons | nous en sommes allé(e)s | allons-nous-en |
| vous | vous en allez | vous en êtes allé(e)(s) | allez-vous-en |
| ils / elles | s'en vont | s'en sont allé(e)s | — |
The negative imperative puts the pronouns back in front: ne t'en va pas, ne vous en allez pas.
S'en Aller and Se Souvenir in Practice
The two most frequent members of the group also have the most awkward mechanics.
Commands with s'en aller
In a positive command the pronouns follow the verb and are joined by hyphens, with te becoming t'. In a negative command they go back in front, in their normal order.
- Va-t'en !
- Go away!
- Allons-nous-en.
- Let's get out of here.
- Ne t'en va pas tout de suite.
- Don't go just yet.
- Ne vous en allez pas sans moi.
- Don't leave without me.
Va-t'en takes an apostrophe, not a second hyphen: the t' is the pronoun te elided, not the linking t of va-t-il.
Se souvenir de vs. se rappeler
The two verbs mean the same thing and take different structures. Se souvenir needs de; se rappeler takes a plain direct object. Mixing them produces se rappeler de, which is common in speech and rejected in writing.
- Je me souviens de cette histoire.
- I remember that story.
- Je me rappelle cette histoire.
- I remember that story.
- Tu t'en souviens ?
- Do you remember it?
- Rappelle-toi ce qu'il a dit.
- Remember what he said.
Only se souvenir belongs to this group. Rappeler exists on its own, so se rappeler is merely a pronominal use of it.
Agreement traps
The participle agrees with the subject, which means feminine and plural subjects add endings that are silent in speech but visible in writing.
- Elles se sont enfuies.
- They ran away.
- Nous nous sommes évanouis.
- We fainted.
- Elle s'en est allée.
- She went off.
- Ils se sont efforcés de nous aider.
- They made an effort to help us.
S'en aller splits the auxiliary from the pronouns: elle s'en est allée, not elle est s'en allée.
Essentially Pronominal Verbs FAQs
- What are essentially pronominal verbs in French?
- Verbs that only exist with a reflexive pronoun, because there is no base verb behind them. S'évanouir, s'enfuir, se souvenir, se méfier, se moquer, s'efforcer, se raviser and s'en aller are the frequent ones. You cannot say il a évanoui or je souviens.
- Do their past participles agree?
- Yes, always with the subject: elle s'est évanouie, ils se sont enfuis, elles se sont moquées de nous. Because the pronoun cannot be classified as a direct or indirect object, the question that complicates other pronominal verbs never comes up.
- How do you conjugate s'en aller?
- Je m'en vais, tu t'en vas, il s'en va, nous nous en allons, vous vous en allez, ils s'en vont. The past is je m'en suis allé, and the imperative moves both pronouns behind the verb: va-t'en, allons-nous-en, allez-vous-en.
- What's the difference between se souvenir de and se rappeler?
- Meaning, none; structure, everything. Se souvenir needs de before its complement (je me souviens de toi), while se rappeler takes a direct object (je me rappelle ton visage). Se rappeler de is very common in speech but is corrected in writing.
- How are they different from ordinary reflexive verbs?
- A reflexive verb has a life of its own without the pronoun: laver becomes se laver, and the se means oneself. An essentially pronominal verb has no such base form, so the pronoun carries no meaning and simply belongs to the word.