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 into the present conditional the same way a regular verb does. We only have to add the reflexive pronouns to the verb.
Let’s conjugate the verb se presenter into the present conditional and the verb presenter and see the difference between the two verbs in terms of the form.
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: se chamailler.
Now let’s see the difference in terms of the meaning between the vebs presenter, and se presenter using the following examples:
Si j’étais toi, je me présenterais à lui et lui donnerais ma carte professionnelle.
If I were you, I would introduce myself to him and hand him my card.
Le président de la compagnie a annoncé qu’il présenterait son nouveau produit la semaine prochaine.
The company president announced that he would introduce his new product next week.
“je me présenterais” in the first example means “I would introduce myself” whereas in the second example , “présenterait” which is a transitive verb that requires a direct object (in this case it is “son nouveau produit”) means “would introduce”.
Let’s take another example:
Ils ont promis qu’ils détruiraient tous les bidonvilles qui entouraient la ville.
They promised that they would destroy all the shanty towns that surrounded the town.
Notre prof nous a dit que si l’homme continuait à polluer la nature, il se détruirait petit à petit.
Our teacher told us that if man kept polluting nature, he would destroy himself bit by bit.
The “est-ce que form”: To ask questions using the “est-ce que form” with pronominal verbs in the present conditional, we simply add “est-ce que” to the question.
For example:
Est-ce qu’il se mettrait à faire du sport si le médecin l’obligeait à le faire ?
Would he start working out if the doctor forced him to do it?
The inversion form: Let’s take the following example: se douter
As for the intonation, we just keep the same sentence and add the interrogation mark at the end when we write or we add the intonation of a question when we talk.
For example:
Si tu étais à ma place tu te méfierais de lui ?
If you were in my shoes, would you distrust him?
As you can see, the negative form is obtained by putting the pronominal verb between “ne” and “pas”.
A verb in the pronominal form conjugates into the present conditional the same way a regular verb does. We only have to add the reflexive pronouns to the verb.
Let’s conjugate the verb se presenter into the present conditional and the verb presenter and see the difference between the two verbs in terms of the form.
se présenter | présenter | Je | me présenterais | présenterais | Tu | te présenterais | présenterais | Il | se présenterait | présenterait | Elle | se présenterait | présenterait | On | se présenterait | présenterait | Nous | nous présenterions | présenterions | Vous | vous présenteriez | présenteriez | Ils | se présenteraient | présenteraient | Elles | se présenteraient | présenteraient |
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: se chamailler.
| Je me chamaillerais Tu te chamaillerais Il se chamaillerait Elle se chamaillerait On se chamaillerait Nous nous chamaillerions Vous vous chamailleriez Ils se chamailleraient Elles se chamailleraient |
Now let’s see the difference in terms of the meaning between the vebs presenter, and se presenter using the following examples:
Si j’étais toi, je me présenterais à lui et lui donnerais ma carte professionnelle.
If I were you, I would introduce myself to him and hand him my card.
Le président de la compagnie a annoncé qu’il présenterait son nouveau produit la semaine prochaine.
The company president announced that he would introduce his new product next week.
“je me présenterais” in the first example means “I would introduce myself” whereas in the second example , “présenterait” which is a transitive verb that requires a direct object (in this case it is “son nouveau produit”) means “would introduce”.
Let’s take another example:
Ils ont promis qu’ils détruiraient tous les bidonvilles qui entouraient la ville.
They promised that they would destroy all the shanty towns that surrounded the town.
Notre prof nous a dit que si l’homme continuait à polluer la nature, il se détruirait petit à petit.
Our teacher told us that if man kept polluting nature, he would destroy himself bit by bit.
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 conditional, we simply add “est-ce que” to the question.
For example:
Est-ce qu’il se mettrait à faire du sport si le médecin l’obligeait à le faire ?
Would he start working out if the doctor forced him to do it?
The inversion form: Let’s take the following example: se douter
| Me douterais-je ? Te douterais-tu ? Se douterait-il ? Se douterait-elle ? Se douterait-on ? Nous douterions-nous ? Vous douteriez-vous ? Se douteraient-ils ? Se douteraient-elles ? |
As for the intonation, we just keep the same sentence and add the interrogation mark at the end when we write or we add the intonation of a question when we talk.
For example:
Si tu étais à ma place tu te méfierais de lui ?
If you were in my shoes, would you distrust him?
The negative form
Let’s conjugate the verb se moquer de in the present conditional.| Je ne me moquerais pas de Tu ne te moquerais pas de Il ne se moquerait pas de Elle ne se moquerait pas de On ne se moquerait pas de Nous ne nous moquerions pas de Vous ne vous moqueriez pas de Ils ne se moqueraient pas de Elles ne se moqueraient pas de |
As you can see, the negative form is obtained by putting the pronominal verb between “ne” and “pas”.