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French verbs that only exist with 'se'

Most French reflexive verbs have an ordinary partner without the pronoun: laver (to wash something) and se laver (to wash yourself). A small group of verbs is different. In modern everyday French they are essentially only used in their pronominal form, with se. There is no plain *évanouir or *enfuir that you could use instead. Verbs like s'évanouir (to faint), s'enfuir (to run away) and se souvenir (to remember) always come with their pronoun, even though nobody is doing anything to themselves.

English speakers trip over these because the English equivalents are simple verbs: you just faint, flee or kneel. Nothing in English hints that a pronoun is needed, so learners drop it and say *j'ai évanoui. In French, the pronoun is simply part of the verb, like the up in give up.

Word list
se souvenirA1 to remember je me souviens de toi s'efforcerB1 to make an effort il s'efforce de sourire s'enrhumerB1 to catch a cold je me suis enrhumé s'évaderB1 to escape s'évader de prison se moquer deB1 to make fun of ils se sont moqués de lui s'agenouillerB2 to kneel down agenouille-toi s'efforcerB2 to struggle je me suis efforcé de réussir s'enfuirB2 to flee le voleur s'est enfui s'évanouirB2 to faint elle s'est évanouie se fierB2 to trust je me fie à toi s'écroulerC1 to collapse le pont s'est écroulé s'effondrerC1 to collapse le toit s'est effondré, il s'est effondré en larmes s'immiscerC1 to interfere s'immiscer dans les affaires de qqn se rebellerC1 to rebel se rebeller contre ses parents s'insurgerC2 to rebel ils se sont insurgés contre la réforme
How it works

Treat the pronoun as part of the verb and learn the two together. Because these verbs are pronominal, they follow all the usual rules for pronominal verbs:

  • The pronoun changes with the subject: je me, tu te, il se, nous nous, vous vous, ils se.
  • In the passé composé they take être, never avoir: je me suis évanoui, not *j'ai évanoui.
  • The past participle agrees with the subject: elle s'est évanouie, ils se sont enfuis.
  • In the positive imperative the pronoun goes after the verb (agenouille-toi). In the negative it stays in front (ne te moque pas).

A useful rule of thumb: if you can't find the verb in a dictionary without se, the pronoun is compulsory.

Elle s'est évanouie à cause de la chaleur.
(She fainted because of the heat.)
The words
Body and physical state

S'évanouir means to faint. S'agenouiller means to kneel down. S'enrhumer means to catch a cold. S'écrouler means to collapse, and it is used for buildings as well as for exhausted people.

Le vieil homme s'agenouille devant la tombe.
(The old man kneels down in front of the grave.)
Je me suis enrhumé en rentrant sous la pluie.
(I caught a cold walking home in the rain.)
Le vieux pont s'est écroulé pendant la nuit.
(The old bridge collapsed during the night.)
Escaping and resisting

S'enfuir is to run away or flee from any place. S'évader is to escape from a place of confinement, typically a prison. Se rebeller is to rebel, usually followed by contre. The more formal s'insurger works the same way.

Les voleurs se sont enfuis par la fenêtre.
(The thieves ran away through the window.)
Deux prisonniers se sont évadés hier soir.
(Two prisoners escaped last night.)
Les adolescents se rebellent souvent contre leurs parents.
(Teenagers often rebel against their parents.)
Attitudes and efforts, with a fixed preposition

Several of these verbs come with a preposition you must learn along with them: se moquer de (to make fun of), se fier à (to trust), s'immiscer dans (to interfere in), s'efforcer de + infinitive (to try hard to) and se souvenir de (to remember). Other classic verbs of this type are se méfier de (to distrust), se soucier de (to care about) and s'abstenir de (to refrain from).

Arrête de te moquer de moi !
(Stop making fun of me!)
Tu peux te fier à elle, elle est très honnête.
(You can trust her, she's very honest.)
Je ne veux pas m'immiscer dans vos affaires.
(I don't want to interfere in your business.)
Il s'efforce de parler lentement.
(He tries hard to speak slowly.)
Tu te souviens de notre premier voyage ?
(Do you remember our first trip?)
Watch out

The most common mistake is dropping the pronoun or using avoir. Say il s'est enfui and nous nous sommes évadés, never *il a enfui.

Don't confuse this group with verbs that exist in both forms but change meaning. Se dépêcher (to hurry) looks like a member, but dépêcher exists and means to dispatch someone. Se vanter means to brag, while vanter means to praise something. Se débrouiller means to manage, while débrouiller means to untangle. These are real verbs, just with a different meaning.

A few members have a non-pronominal form in old or literary texts, such as moquer or a rare enrhumer that takes a direct object. You won't need these in everyday French, so always use the forms with se. Se souvenir is covered in more detail in the article on verbs of mental states. Here, just remember that it is never used without its pronoun.

Summary

Some French verbs only live with their pronoun: s'évanouir, s'enfuir, s'évader, s'agenouiller, se fier à, se moquer de, se souvenir de and a few others. Learn each one with its se (and its preposition, if it has one), change the pronoun to match the subject, and use être with an agreeing participle in compound tenses: elle s'est évanouie.