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How To Use The Reflexive Verb “Se souvenir” in French

How To Use The Reflexive Verb “Se souvenir” in French

In today’s lesson we’ll focus on the reflexive verb se souvenir, which means “to remember”. We’ll also have a quick look at se rappeler, which means both to remember and to recall.

se souvenir de

to remember

Pronunciation [sə suvəniʀ də]

Se souvenir - French reflexive verb meaning "to remember".

Se souvenir – to remember

Explanation

The verb se souvenir is always reflexive. This means that it cannot be used in the non-reflexive form. Hence, je souviens is wrong for “I remember”. You must say je me souviens.

In addition, the verb is always followed by the preposition de. For example, je me souviens de toi (I remember you). Lastly, as the verb is followed by de, you’d say je m’en souviens to mean “I remember it” or “I remember them”.

Example sentences

Je me souviens de presque tous mes profs du lycée.

I remember almost al of my high school teachers.

Je me souviens de mon voyage en France.

I remember my trip to France.

As mentioned, the reflexive verb se rappeler means both to recall and to remember. This verb is NOT followed by de. Hence, je me rappelle de mon voyage (I recall/remember my trip) would be wrong. Se rappeler is slightly less formal than se souvenir.

Je me rappelle mon voyage en Espagne.

I remember my trip to Spain.

The English word “souvenir” as in an object you buy on a trip, comes from French: un souvenir! This sentence uses the passé composé of aller (to go), which requires the usage of être as an auxiliary verb.

Martine a achété plusieurs souvenirs quand elle est allée au Mexique.

Martine purchased several souvenirs when she went to Mexico.

Conjugation

The verb se souvenir follows the same conjugation pattern as the verb venir (to come) with the prefix sou-.

Je me souviens I remember
Tu te souviens You remember (singular, informal)
Il, elle se souvient He, she remembers
Nous nous souvenons We remember
Vous vous souvenez You remember (plural, formal)
Ils, elles se souviennent They remember

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Word of the Day archive | Lessons by David Issokson

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David Issokson
David Issokson is a lifelong language learner and speaks over seven languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private lessons. When not teaching or writing his French Word of the Day lessons, David enjoys his time skiing, hiking and mountain biking in Victor, Idaho.

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David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language learner and speaks over seven languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private lessons. When not teaching or writing his French Word of the Day lessons, David enjoys his time skiing, hiking and mountain biking in Victor, Idaho.

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