Chapter 8

Reflexive verbs:

Form: Reflexive verbs are also often called "pronominal verbs" because they are always preceded (except in commands) with an extra pronoun that doubles the subject:

je me…, tu te…, il se.../elle se…; nous nous…, vous vous…, ils se…./elles se...

NB: "se" is the reflexive pronoun for all third person forms, singular and plural.

Reflexive verbs can be found/used in any tense (or in the infinitive). When they are used in composed tenses (e.g. the passé composé), they all require être as the auxiliary, regardless of meaning.

Il s'est lavé. ('He washed [himself].')

Je me suis rasé. ('I shaved.')

Meaning/use: Reflexive verbs can be used in several ways:

To express truly reflexive actions: Je me regarde dans la glace. ('I look at myself in the mirror.')
To express reciprocal actions between several people: Ils se sont regardés. ('They looked at each other.')
To express passive ideas (without using a passive construction): Le vin se boit en France. ('Wine is drunk in France.')
In idiomatic expressions, to express actions that are not clearly reflexive, reciprocal, or passive: Dans ce roman de Hemingway, il s'agit de la lutte entre un vieil homme et un gros poisson. ('This Hemingway novel is about the struggle between an old man and a big fish.')

"Il faut" : the impersonal verb falloir

Like the verb s'agir in the sample sentence above (#4), falloir can have only one subject: impersonal "il." Impersonal "il" refers to no one in specific (it's impersonal). Think of "it's raining."

The past participle of falloir is fallu: Il a fallu partir alors. ('It was then necessary to leave.')

Meaning/use: falloir expresses necessity. Il faut means 'it is necessary': Il faut se laver les mains avant de dîner. ('It's necessary to wash your (one's) hands before eating dinner.') In the negative (il ne faut pas), falloir expresses an actual 'prohibition': Il ne faut pas dîner avant de se laver les mains.

Less often, Il faut can be followed by a noun, referring to something that is needed: "Il me faut un stylo pour signer ce document. ('I need a pen in order to sign this document'; or 'A pen is necessary in order for me to sign this document.')

Prepositions of place:

Chapter 8 introduces twelve new prepositions or prepositional phrases:

devant ≠ derrière (~ en arrière de) ('in front of' ≠ 'behind')

à droite de ≠ à gauche de ('to the right of' ≠ 'to the left of')

au milieu de ('in the middle of')

au-dessus de ≠ au-dessous ('above' ≠ 'below')

en face de ('opposite, across the street from')

à côté de ('next to')

au fond de ('at the bottom of' [think 'the foundation of'])

au bout de ('at the end of')

près de (‘near’)

Learn also chez: 'in the home of': chez Paul ('Paul's house, Paul's place'); chez elle ('her place').

Chez can also have figurative meanings: chez Dickens ('in Dickens' work'), chez Aristote ('in Aristotle's thought'), chez les Inca ('in Inca culture').

[Chez is presented in Chapter 20, §128.]

Disjunctive (or 'strong') Pronouns:

moi

toi

lui/elle/soi

nous

vous

eux/elles

These are used when a pronoun needs to be placed at a certain distance (disjoined) from the verb -- they need to be strong to survive on their own! This could be after a que (in a comparison), after a preposition (like chez), after c'est, for emphasis or in a one word sentence. Strong pronouns can also be combined with "-même" to form the French equivalents of "myself, yourself, himself," etc. (NB: these 'emphatic reflexive' forms are generally not used with reflexive verbs -- except for emphasis!)

Venir:

Venir is an essential verb of movement meaning 'to come.'

present tense: je viens, tu viens, il/elle vient; nous venons, vous venez, ils/elles viennent.

Its past participle is venu. In the passé composé, être is used as the auxiliary: Nous sommes venus seuls ('We came alone').

Compounds of venir include: revenir, parvenir ('finally reach'), devenir ('to become'), provenir ('to originate from'), convenir ('to go well, to be appropriate'), prévenir ('to warn'). [All but the last two are conjugated with être.]

Tenir ('to hold or grasp') is conjugated like venir, as are its numerous (cognate) compounds: contenir, obtenir, retenir, maintenir, soutenir, abstenir, etc.