The Pronominal Verbs - The Present Subjunctive

Pronominal verbs or “verbes pronominaux” also called reflexive verbs hold an important part in the French language. They are always used with reflexive pronouns that replace the subject only. These are me, m’, te, t’, se, s’, nous, vous. Throughout this chapter we will explore the use, the form and the types of the pronominal verbs. We will also learn how to conjugate the pronominal verbs into the present simple, the passé composé, the imperfect tense, the future simple, the subjunctive, the imperative, the present and past conditional.

A verb in the pronominal form conjugates to the present subjunctive the same way a regular verb does. We only have to add the reflexive pronouns to the verb.

Let’s conjugate the verb sentir into the present subjunctive and the verb se sentir and see the difference between the two in terms of the form.

se sentir	sentir
que je me sente	que je sente
que tu te sentes	que tu sentes
qu’il se sente	qu’il sente
qu’elle se sente	qu’elle sente
qu’on se sente	qu’on sente
que nous nous sentions	que nous sentions
que vous vous sentiez	que vous sentiez
qu’ils se sentent	qu’ils sentent
qu’elles se sentent	qu’elles sentent

As you can see, the only difference there is between the two conjugations is the reflexive pronouns: me, te , se, nous, vous.

Let’s conjugate another verb that can only be pronominal. In other words, it is always preceded with a reflexive pronoun.

The verb s’évader:

que je m’évade que tu t’évades qu’il s’évade qu’elle s’évade qu’on s’évade que nous nous évadions que vous vous évadiez qu’ils s’évadent qu’elles s’évadent

Now let’s see the difference in terms of the meaning between the vebs “sentir” and “se sentir” using the following example:

Je veux que tu sentes cette fleur.
I want you to smell this flower.

Je veux que tu te sentes mieux demain.
I want you to feel better tomorrow.

You can clearly see the difference between the meaning of “sentir” and “se sentir” from the examples above. “sentir” in the first example means “to smell”. “se sentir” in the second example means “to feel”.

Let’s take another example:

Il faut que nous nous habillions d’une manière convenable.
We have to dress in an appropriate way.

Il faut que nous habillions nos enfants avant de partir.
We have to dress our kids before leaving.

The Interrogative form

As you know there are three ways of asking questions in French:

The est-ce que form: Standard form The subject/verb or auxiliary inversion: Formal form The intonation: Colloquial form

The “est-ce que form: To ask questions using the “est-ce que form” with pronominal verbs in the present subjunctive, we simply add “est-ce que” to the question.

For example:

Est-ce que tu veux que je m’occupe de tes enfants pendant ton absence ?
Do you want me to take care of your kids during your absence?

The inversion form: We don’t use the inversion on the verb in the subjunctive as it is always part of a relative clause. We use the inversion on the main verb of the sentence.

For example:

Souhaitez-vous que l’économie du pays se redresse ?
Do you hope that the national economy recovers?

The negative form

Let’s conjugate the verb ne pas se taire in the present subjunctive:

que je ne me taise pas que tu ne te taises pas qu’il ne se taise pas qu’elle ne se taise pas qu’on ne se taise pas que nous ne nous taisions pas que vous ne vous taisiez pas qu’ils ne se taisent pas qu’elles ne se taisent pas