Essentially Pronominal Verbs

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

 See the main lesson on pronominal verbs for details on using essentially pronominal verbs in different tenses and moods.

 Related lessons

• Reflexive pronouns
• Pronominal verbs
• Agreement with pronominal verbs
• Introduction to French verbs

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