Se lever is one of the first verbs you learn, and one of the last you stop using. It is the everyday word for getting up — out of bed in the morning, out of your chair when someone enters the room, off the ground when you've fallen. It is also a textbook case of two grammatical phenomena bundled into one tiny verb: the e→è spelling alternation that runs through the entire family of verbs in -e_er, and the pronominal pattern that requires être in compound tenses with full participle agreement.
This page is the complete reference: the paradigms in every tense, the spelling change, the transitive lever underneath the pronominal, the high-frequency idioms, and the mistakes English speakers reliably make.
The spelling change: e → è
The infinitive is lever, but in many forms the silent e of the stem becomes a stressed open è. This happens whenever the syllable that follows is silent. In practice that means: throughout the singular and 3pl of the présent, throughout the entire futur and conditionnel, and throughout the subjonctif singular and 3pl. The nous and vous forms of the présent and imparfait keep the silent e because the following syllable is pronounced.
The same pattern runs through acheter, mener, peser, semer, geler and several dozen other verbs. Once you internalize the rule for se lever, you have it for the whole family.
The simple tenses
These are the tenses formed without an auxiliary. The reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous, se) precedes the conjugated verb in every tense except the affirmative imperative.
Présent de l'indicatif
Singular and 3pl take è; nous and vous keep the silent e.
| Person | Form | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| je | me lève | /mə lɛv/ |
| tu | te lèves | /tə lɛv/ |
| il / elle / on | se lève | /sə lɛv/ |
| nous | nous levons | /nu ləvɔ̃/ |
| vous | vous levez | /vu ləve/ |
| ils / elles | se lèvent | /sə lɛv/ |
Je me lève à six heures tous les matins, sauf le dimanche.
I get up at six every morning, except Sunday.
Tu te lèves trop tard — on va rater le train.
You're getting up too late — we're going to miss the train.
Le soleil se lève vers sept heures en cette saison.
The sun rises around seven at this time of year.
Imparfait
Built on the nous stem lev- with the regular imparfait endings — no è anywhere.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | me levais |
| tu | te levais |
| il / elle / on | se levait |
| nous | nous levions |
| vous | vous leviez |
| ils / elles | se levaient |
Quand on était petits, on se levait avant les parents pour regarder les dessins animés.
When we were little, we used to get up before our parents to watch cartoons.
Mon grand-père se levait toujours avec le coq.
My grandfather always got up at the crack of dawn.
Futur simple
The è runs through every form. The futur stem is lèver-, formed from the infinitive with the e→è alternation applied throughout because every following syllable in the futur endings begins with a mute or weak vowel.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | me lèverai |
| tu | te lèveras |
| il / elle / on | se lèvera |
| nous | nous lèverons |
| vous | vous lèverez |
| ils / elles | se lèveront |
Demain, je me lèverai à cinq heures pour préparer les valises.
Tomorrow I'll get up at five to pack the bags.
On se lèvera tôt, comme ça on évitera les bouchons.
We'll get up early, that way we'll avoid the traffic.
Conditionnel présent
Same stem lèver- as the futur, with the imparfait endings. The è is preserved.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | me lèverais |
| tu | te lèverais |
| il / elle / on | se lèverait |
| nous | nous lèverions |
| vous | vous lèveriez |
| ils / elles | se lèveraient |
À ta place, je me lèverais maintenant — sinon tu vas être en retard.
If I were you, I'd get up now — otherwise you'll be late.
Subjonctif présent
Singular and 3pl carry the è (silent following syllable); nous and vous keep the silent e.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (que) je | me lève |
| (que) tu | te lèves |
| (qu')il / elle / on | se lève |
| (que) nous | nous levions |
| (que) vous | vous leviez |
| (qu')ils / elles | se lèvent |
Il faut que tu te lèves, le bus passe dans dix minutes.
You need to get up, the bus comes in ten minutes.
Impératif
The reflexive pronoun migrates after the verb and attaches with a hyphen. Te becomes toi in the affirmative imperative.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (tu) | lève-toi |
| (nous) | levons-nous |
| (vous) | levez-vous |
In the negative imperative, the pronoun stays before the verb in its standard form: ne te lève pas, ne nous levons pas, ne vous levez pas.
Lève-toi, il est déjà huit heures !
Get up, it's already eight o'clock!
Levez-vous, le juge entre dans la salle.
Rise, the judge is entering the courtroom.
Ne te lève pas, je vais chercher la télécommande.
Don't get up, I'll get the remote.
Participles
- Participe passé: levé (feminine levée, plural levés / levées)
- Participe présent: (se) levant
- Gérondif: en (se) levant
En me levant ce matin, j'ai senti que ça allait être une bonne journée.
Getting up this morning, I felt like it was going to be a good day.
The compound tenses
Se lever is pronominal, so the auxiliary is always être. With pronominal verbs, the participle agrees with the reflexive pronoun when the pronoun is a direct object — and for se lever used in its core meaning (get oneself up), the reflexive me / te / se / nous / vous / se is the direct object. So agreement applies in the standard way: feminine subject takes -e, plural subject takes -s.
Passé composé
être (présent) + levé(e)(s)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | me suis levé(e) |
| tu | t'es levé(e) |
| il / on | s'est levé |
| elle | s'est levée |
| nous | nous sommes levé(e)s |
| vous | vous êtes levé(e)(s) |
| ils | se sont levés |
| elles | se sont levées |
Je me suis levée à six heures pour finir mon mémoire.
I got up at six to finish my thesis. (female speaker)
Elles se sont levées en silence pour ne pas réveiller le bébé.
They got up in silence so as not to wake the baby.
On s'est levés tard, on a raté le petit-déjeuner.
We got up late, we missed breakfast.
Plus-que-parfait, futur antérieur, conditionnel passé
The other compound tenses follow the same pattern: être in the relevant tense + levé(e)(s).
Quand je suis arrivé, elle s'était déjà levée.
When I arrived, she had already gotten up.
Si je m'étais levée plus tôt, j'aurais eu le temps de prendre un café.
If I had gotten up earlier, I would have had time for a coffee.
The transitive lever (without the reflexive)
Underneath se lever sits the transitive verb lever, meaning to raise or to lift. Same conjugation, no reflexive pronoun. You raise something other than yourself: a hand, a glass, a weight, a curtain.
Lève la main si tu connais la réponse.
Raise your hand if you know the answer.
On a levé nos verres pour porter un toast.
We raised our glasses to make a toast.
Le rideau se lève à vingt heures précises.
The curtain goes up at exactly eight o'clock.
In the last example, se lever is used for an inanimate subject — the curtain rises by itself. This stretches the reflexive into something closer to a passive: the curtain is raised. French uses this construction freely where English would say rises or goes up.
The core uses
1. Get up from bed
The default reading. Se lever without further context means get out of bed.
D'habitude, je me lève à sept heures, mais ce matin j'ai dormi jusqu'à dix heures.
Usually I get up at seven, but this morning I slept until ten.
Mon fils refuse de se lever pour aller à l'école.
My son refuses to get up to go to school.
2. Stand up from a seated position
Used for the act of rising from a chair, a couch, or the floor.
Levez-vous quand quelqu'un entre dans la pièce.
Stand up when someone enters the room.
Il s'est levé d'un bond et il est sorti sans dire un mot.
He jumped up and left without saying a word.
3. Rise (sun, moon, fog, dough)
Natural phenomena that ascend or appear use se lever.
Le soleil se lève à six heures vingt-trois aujourd'hui.
The sun rises at six twenty-three today.
La brume se lève sur la vallée.
The mist is rising over the valley.
Le vent se lève — on rentre avant l'orage.
The wind is picking up — let's head back before the storm.
High-frequency idioms
- se lever du pied gauche — to get up on the wrong side of the bed (literally: to get up on the left foot)
- se lever de bonne heure — to get up early
- se lever aux aurores — to get up at dawn (literary or emphatic)
- au petit matin / au lever du jour — at daybreak
- au lever du soleil — at sunrise
- lever le coude (informal) — to drink heavily (literally: to lift the elbow)
- lever le pied — to ease off, slow down
- lever le voile sur — to lift the veil on, reveal
Tu t'es levé du pied gauche ce matin ou quoi ? Tu râles depuis huit heures.
Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or what? You've been grumbling since eight.
Le médecin lui a conseillé de lever le pied au travail.
The doctor advised him to ease off at work.
Comparison with English
English splits se lever across several different verbs and constructions, which causes predictable interference for learners.
- Get up vs stand up vs wake up. English distinguishes wake up (regain consciousness — French se réveiller) from get up (leave the bed — French se lever). These are two separate events: you can wake up at six and get up at six-thirty. French keeps the same distinction. Beginners frequently say je me lève when they mean I wake up, or vice versa.
- Reflexive obligation. English I get up has no reflexive marker; French je me lève requires me. The reflexive is not optional and not stylistic — it is the verb. Without it, je lève means I raise (something) and the listener will wait for an object.
- Auxiliary mismatch. English uses no auxiliary in the simple past (I got up); French uses être in the passé composé (je me suis levé). Beginners often try j'ai levé, which means I raised (something) and is wrong for the reflexive sense.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Forgetting the reflexive pronoun.
❌ Je lève à sept heures.
Wrong — without me, lever means 'to raise (something)' and the sentence is incomplete.
✅ Je me lève à sept heures.
I get up at seven.
Mistake 2: Using avoir in the passé composé.
❌ J'ai me levé tôt ce matin.
Wrong on two counts — pronominal verbs always use être, and the pronoun goes before the auxiliary.
✅ Je me suis levé tôt ce matin.
I got up early this morning.
Mistake 3: Forgetting the è.
❌ Je me leve à six heures.
Wrong — when the next syllable is silent, the stem e must be written è.
✅ Je me lève à six heures.
I get up at six.
Mistake 4: Confusing se lever with se réveiller.
❌ Je me lève toujours en sursaut quand le téléphone sonne.
Wrong if you mean 'I wake up with a start' — that's se réveiller. Se lever is the act of leaving the bed.
✅ Je me réveille toujours en sursaut quand le téléphone sonne.
I always wake up with a start when the phone rings.
Mistake 5: Forgetting participle agreement.
❌ Elle s'est levé à cinq heures.
Wrong — the reflexive se is the direct object and refers to a feminine subject, so the participle must agree: levée.
✅ Elle s'est levée à cinq heures.
She got up at five.
Key takeaways
Se lever is the everyday verb for getting up — out of bed, out of a chair, off the ground — and for natural phenomena that rise (the sun, the wind, mist). The conjugation features a memorable spelling alternation: the silent e of the stem becomes an open è whenever the next syllable is mute. So je me lève but nous nous levons; je me lèverai throughout the futur but je me levais throughout the imparfait.
The verb is pronominal, so compound tenses use être with full participle agreement: elle s'est levée, ils se sont levés. The transitive lever (to raise, to lift) is the same verb minus the reflexive pronoun and is used for raising hands, glasses, curtains, and weights. Master se lever and you have the template for the entire e→è family — acheter, mener, peser, semer, geler all behave identically.
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