📖LearnModule 5 · Lesson 14 of 30Basic User · CEFR A2 mastery + the B1 bridgeUnit 3 · The two pasts, mastered
Je me suis levé — reflexives in the past
Module 5 of the free French course (CEFR A2 mastery + the B1 bridge), lesson 14 of 30: Reflexives take être in the past. On this page: 6 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 14.
The words
French
English
Say it
je me suis levé
I got up (m)
zhuh muh swee luh-VAY
je me suis levée
I got up (f)
zhuh muh swee luh-VAY
il s'est lavé
he washed
eel seh lah-VAY
elle s'est couchée tôt
she went to bed early
ehl seh koo-shay TOH
je me suis dépêché
I hurried (m)
zhuh muh swee day-peh-SHAY
ce matin
this morning
suh mah-TA(n)
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
Reflexives take être in the past, with the pronoun still up front: je me suis levé (levée for a female speaker), il s'est lavé, elle s'est couchée tôt.
Et aussi · And also
Ce matin, je me suis réveillé à six heures et je me suis dépêché!
Attention · Watch out
je me suis levé for a male speaker, je me suis levée for a female one: in the je form the agreement follows the SPEAKER.
se lever, passé composé — the table
il s'est levé · elle s'est levée · ils se sont levés · elles se sont levées
Do it now — on paper
Say all 6 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with je me suis levé.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out se lever, passé composé in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.