Verbes essentiellement pronominaux
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Two dozen French verbs always require a reflexive pronoun but aren’t necessarily reflexive or reciprocal. These "essentially pronominal" verbs can only be used pronominally, because without the pronoun, the verb is meaningless (though there are some literary exceptions).
Par exemple…
Je me souviens. | I remember. | |
Il s’est suicidé. | He killed himself. |
Most common French essentially pronominal verbs
Here are the most common verbes essentiellement pronominaux.
s’abstenir | to abstain, refrain | |
s’acharner | to harass, attack, persevere | |
s’arroger | to claim falsely | |
se dédire | to recant, go back on one’s word | |
se départir de | to abandon, lose | |
se désister | to withdraw, stand down | |
s’ébattre | to frolic, romp about | |
s’écrier | to exclaim | |
s’efforcer | to endeavor, do one’s best | |
s’emparer | to seize, take hold of | |
s’enfuir | to flee, escape | |
s’enquérir | to inquire | |
s’entremettre | to mediate | |
s’envoler | to fly away, blow off | |
s’éprendre | to become enamored | |
s’évader | to escape, evade | |
s’évanouir | to faint | |
s’évertuer à | to strive to | |
s’exclamer | to exclaim | |
se méfier de | to mistrust, distrust, beware of/about | |
se méprendre | to misjudge, make a mistake | |
se moquer de | to make fun of | |
se pâmer | to swoon | |
se repentir | to repent | |
se souvenir de | to remember | |
se suicider | to kill oneself |

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