The Baghdad Bugle
Private Security Modules
26. French Reflexive Verbs
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26. French Reflexive Verbs

The easiest way to explain reflexive verbs is in the sense of something that you do to yourself (or that others do to themselves). This is not a perfect explanation but you will get the idea with the following examples. All reflexive verbs, in their infinitive form, begin with Se.

Se Raser 

Je me rase          zhe me rarz              I shave myself 

Tu te rase         tu te rarz                    You shave yourself  

Il se rase             il se rarz                     He shaves himself 

On se rase         on’ se rarz                   We shave ourselves 

In English we don’t say 'I am shaving myself'. If somebody says ‘I am shaving’ it is taken for granted that he is shaving himself. French however, is often more literal (and precise) than English.

Laver 

Je lave la voiture             zhe lav lu vwartur       I am washing the car. 

Tu laves le chien             tu lav le shee-u           You wash the dog. 

Il lave les vetements       il lav lay vet-mo’         He is washing the clothes. 

On lave par terre             on’ lav par tair            We’re washing the floor.   

Se Laver 

Je me lave les mains        zhe me lav lay mar     I am washing my hands.

Tu te laves les bras          tu te lav lay brar         You’re washing your arms

Elle se lave les pieds        el se lav lay pi-ye        She’s washing her feet 

On’ se lave le figure         o’ se lav le fig-you’r     We’re washing our faces. 

We also have a reflexive version of the verb APPELLER (Call) which is S’APPELLER. APPELLER is used to call somebody or something.

Appeller 

J’appelle les chiens tous les matins.               zhu-pel lay shee-u too lay mu-tar 

I call the dogs every morning.

.

Tu peux appeller les enfants s’il te plait?  tchoo pe u-plee lez o’fon’ see te play? 

Can you call the kids (children) please? (intonation)

Il appellera sa femme ce soir.                           il u-pel-era su fum say swar 

He will call his wife this evening.

On appelle nos parents toutes les semaines. on u-pel no’ par-on’ toot lay se-mayn 

We call our parents every week.

S’APPELLER 

S'Appeller is used for what we call ourselves i.e. our names. 

Examples; 

Je m’appelle Jack                    zhe mu-pel Jack          I call myself Jack                                   (My name is Jack) 

In the civilized world of course we say ‘My name is .....’. 

‘I call myself’ is just the literal translation so as to be able to understand why we say ‘Je m’appelle .....’ 

Tu t’appelle Sandra                tu tu-pel Sandra                You call yourself Sandra            (Your name is Sandra) 

Elle s’appelle Megan               el su-pel Megan                She calls herself Megan             (Her name is Megan) 

Et voila pourquoi on dit ‘Je m’appelle ….’

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