This document discusses reflexive verbs in the passé composé tense in French. It explains that reflexive verbs are conjugated with être in the passé composé. The past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject. Examples are provided to show the conjugation of reflexive pronouns with être and the past participle. The negation of reflexive verbs in the passé composé is also explained, with the negative expression "ne...pas" wrapping around both the reflexive pronoun and être.

1. Les verbes réfléchis au PASSÉ
Reflexive verbs are just like other verbs except they have a REFLEXIVE PRONOUN. This pronoun indicates that the action is reflected back on the subject of the verb. It’s the equivalent of “myself”, “himself”, “ourselves”, etc. This pronoun is often NOT expressed in English. For example, you simply say “I get up” not “I get myself up”.
In the PASSÉ COMPOSÉ, reflexive verbs are conjugated with ÊTRE.
Since they are conjugated with ÊTRE, the past participle usually agrees in gender and number with the subject.
Here’s the order:
SUBJECT + REFLEXIVE PRONOUN + ÊTRE + PAST PARTICIPLE
Here are some examples:
SUBJECT
REFLEXIVE PRONOUN
ÊTRE
PAST PARTICIPLE
Je
me
suis
levé
Elle
s’
est
couchée ( “e” for feminine)
Nous
nous
sommes
habillés ( “s” for plural)
Here’s the verb “SE LAVER” conjugated in the PASSÉ COMPOSÉ
Je me suis lavé(e)
Nous nous sommes lavé(e)s
Tu t’es lavé(e)
Vous vous êtes lavé(e)(s)*
Il s’est lavé
Ils se sont lavés
Elle s’est lavée
Elles se sont lavées
*remember, VOUS can be either formal or plural so you won’t always have an “s”
La négation
When you use negation with a reflexive verb in the past, the negative expression (ne…pas) goes around the reflexive pronoun AND être. You can think of it like a sandwich:
NE and PAS are the piece of bread, the REFLEXIVE PRONOUN is the cheese and ÊTRE is the meat. You want both of those things on your sandwich, so they go in between NE and PAS! The PAST PARTICIPLE is like fries. You eat those on the side, so the PAST PARTICIPLE is after the PAS. Here are some examples:
•Je ne me suis pas dépêchée.
•Ils ne se sont pas amusés.
•Vous ne vous êtes pas endormis.
ne
past participle
pronoun
être
pas