Se mettre is one of the most useful pronominal verbs in the language. On the surface it just means put oneself — but in practice it covers a much wider range: start (with à + infinitive), get into a state (with en + noun), agree, stand up, sit down, get oneself into a mess. It is a workhorse you cannot avoid, and once you understand how the constructions chain together, half a dozen other patterns become transparent.
This page is the full reference: every paradigm, the se mettre à + infinitive inceptive (start doing X), the se mettre en + noun pattern, the agreement quirks, and the idioms.
The simple tenses
Mettre has the consonant alternation between singular and plural — singular drops one t, plural keeps both. The reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous, se) precedes the conjugated verb except in the affirmative imperative.
Présent de l'indicatif
| Person | Form | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| je | me mets | /mə mɛ/ |
| tu | te mets | /tə mɛ/ |
| il / elle / on | se met | /sə mɛ/ |
| nous | nous mettons | /nu mɛtɔ̃/ |
| vous | vous mettez | /vu mɛte/ |
| ils / elles | se mettent | /sə mɛt/ |
Je me mets au lit dès que les enfants sont couchés.
I get into bed as soon as the kids are down.
Tu te mets toujours au dernier rang ? Personne ne t'entend.
You always sit in the back row? Nobody can hear you.
On se met d'accord sur les détails et on signe.
We agree on the details and we sign.
Imparfait
Built on the plural stem mett- with the regular endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | me mettais |
| tu | te mettais |
| il / elle / on | se mettait |
| nous | nous mettions |
| vous | vous mettiez |
| ils / elles | se mettaient |
Quand on était petits, on se mettait à pleurer dès qu'on entendait l'orage.
When we were little, we'd start crying the moment we heard a thunderstorm.
Mon père se mettait toujours en colère pour des broutilles.
My father always got angry over little things.
Futur simple
Stem mettr-, regular futur endings — same double t as in the infinitive.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | me mettrai |
| tu | te mettras |
| il / elle / on | se mettra |
| nous | nous mettrons |
| vous | vous mettrez |
| ils / elles | se mettront |
Je m'y mettrai demain matin, c'est promis.
I'll get to it tomorrow morning, I promise.
Si on se met au travail maintenant, on aura fini avant midi.
If we get to work now, we'll be done before noon.
Conditionnel présent
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | me mettrais |
| tu | te mettrais |
| il / elle / on | se mettrait |
| nous | nous mettrions |
| vous | vous mettriez |
| ils / elles | se mettraient |
À ta place, je me mettrais à apprendre le français maintenant — il n'est jamais trop tard.
If I were you, I'd start learning French now — it's never too late.
Subjonctif présent
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (que) je | me mette |
| (que) tu | te mettes |
| (qu')il / elle / on | se mette |
| (que) nous | nous mettions |
| (que) vous | vous mettiez |
| (qu')ils / elles | se mettent |
Il faut qu'on se mette d'accord avant la réunion.
We need to agree before the meeting.
Je ne veux pas qu'il se mette en colère pour rien.
I don't want him getting angry for no reason.
Impératif
The pronoun follows the verb with a hyphen; te becomes toi.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (tu) | mets-toi |
| (nous) | mettons-nous |
| (vous) | mettez-vous |
Mets-toi à l'aise, je reviens dans une minute.
Make yourself comfortable, I'll be back in a minute.
Mettez-vous debout pour la photo.
Stand up for the photo.
Ne te mets pas en travers de mon chemin.
Don't get in my way.
Participles
- Participe passé: mis (feminine mise, plural mis / mises)
- Participe présent: (se) mettant
- Gérondif: en (se) mettant
The feminine mise /miz/ has an audible final consonant — which lets you hear participle agreement in speech. Elle s'est mise à pleurer sounds different from il s'est mis à pleurer.
En me mettant au travail tôt, j'ai pu finir avant la nuit.
By getting to work early, I was able to finish before nightfall.
The compound tenses
Se mettre is pronominal, so the auxiliary is always être. Participle agreement follows the standard pronominal rule: when the reflexive is the direct object, the participle agrees with the subject. With se mettre à + infinitive (or with se mettre en + noun), the reflexive is still the direct object — there's no third element competing for that role — so agreement applies.
Passé composé
être (présent) + mis(e)(s)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | me suis mis(e) |
| tu | t'es mis(e) |
| il / on | s'est mis |
| elle | s'est mise |
| nous | nous sommes mis(es) |
| vous | vous êtes mis(e)(s) |
| ils | se sont mis |
| elles | se sont mises |
Elle s'est mise à crier dès qu'elle a vu la souris.
She started screaming the moment she saw the mouse.
On s'est mis d'accord sur le prix après une heure de discussion.
We agreed on the price after an hour of discussion.
Les enfants se sont mis debout pour applaudir.
The children stood up to applaud.
Plus-que-parfait, futur antérieur, conditionnel passé
Standard pattern: être in the relevant tense + mis(e)(s).
Quand je suis arrivé, ils s'étaient déjà mis à table.
When I arrived, they had already sat down to eat.
Si je m'étais mise au piano plus jeune, j'en jouerais bien aujourd'hui.
If I had taken up the piano younger, I'd play it well today.
The core uses
This is where se mettre earns its keep. Each of these constructions is high-frequency, and together they cover an enormous semantic range.
1. Place oneself somewhere
The literal core: put yourself in a location or position.
Mets-toi près de la fenêtre, il y a plus de lumière.
Stand by the window, there's more light.
Je me suis mis derrière toi pour la photo.
I positioned myself behind you for the photo.
Mettez-vous en cercle, on commence l'exercice.
Get in a circle, we're starting the exercise.
2. Se mettre à + infinitive — to start (inceptive)
This is one of the most frequent uses. Se mettre à faire X means start doing X, with a sense of beginning a new activity or suddenly launching into one. It is the standard alternative to commencer à and is more vivid in conversation — commencer à is the neutral choice, se mettre à foregrounds the moment of starting.
Il s'est mis à pleuvoir au moment où on est sortis.
It started raining the moment we went out.
Je vais m'y mettre demain — j'ai trop traîné.
I'm going to get on with it tomorrow — I've put it off too long.
Elle s'est mise à apprendre le japonais l'année dernière.
She started learning Japanese last year.
The form m'y mettre with the y is everywhere in conversation. Y refers back to a task previously mentioned (or implied). Je vais m'y mettre = I'm going to get to it. Useful as a unit.
3. Se mettre en + noun — to enter a state
A productive pattern. Se mettre en + noun means get into the state of + the noun. It is how French talks about passing from one state to another.
- se mettre en colère — to get angry
- se mettre en route — to set off
- se mettre en grève — to go on strike
- se mettre en marche — to start up (a process, a march)
- se mettre en garde — to be on guard
- se mettre en cause — to call oneself into question
- se mettre en pyjama — to put on pyjamas (informal: get in pyjama mode)
Il se met en colère pour un rien.
He gets angry over nothing.
On s'est mis en route à l'aube pour éviter la chaleur.
We set off at dawn to avoid the heat.
Les cheminots se sont mis en grève pour trois jours.
The rail workers have gone on strike for three days.
4. Se mettre d'accord — to agree
A frozen expression that everyone uses. The sense is come to an agreement, settle on something together. With sur + the topic.
On s'est mis d'accord sur la date de la réunion.
We've agreed on the date of the meeting.
Je n'arrive pas à me mettre d'accord avec lui sur quoi que ce soit.
I can't manage to agree with him on anything.
5. Se mettre debout / se mettre à genoux / se mettre à plat ventre — body positions
For taking up a posture. Se mettre debout (stand up), s'asseoir (sit down — different verb), se mettre à genoux (kneel), se mettre à plat ventre (lie face down).
Mets-toi debout, je te mesure.
Stand up, I'm going to measure you.
Le chien s'est mis à plat ventre pour passer sous la barrière.
The dog got down on its belly to crawl under the fence.
6. Se mettre dans + situation — get oneself into
For ending up in a (usually awkward) situation through one's own actions.
Tu te mets dans des situations impossibles, ensuite tu te plains.
You get yourself into impossible situations, then you complain.
Il s'est mis dans un beau pétrin avec cette histoire.
He's gotten himself into quite a mess with this whole business.
The transitive mettre (parent verb)
It is worth a moment to remember that se mettre is the reflexive of plain mettre (to put). The reflexive narrows the action to the subject acting on the subject — I put myself — but the underlying verb has a vast range covered on the mettre reference page. If you find yourself reaching for an unusual sense of se mettre, check whether the transitive mettre covers it more naturally.
Je mets le livre sur l'étagère.
I'm putting the book on the shelf. (transitive)
Je me mets dans une situation difficile.
I'm putting myself in a difficult situation. (reflexive)
High-frequency idioms
- se mettre à table — to sit down to eat (literal); also figuratively to confess everything (slang)
- se mettre en quatre — to bend over backwards (literally: to break oneself in four)
- se mettre à dos quelqu'un — to get on someone's bad side
- se mettre martel en tête (literary) — to worry oneself sick
- se mettre la rate au court-bouillon (informal) — to get worked up over nothing (literally: to put one's spleen in a court-bouillon)
- se mettre au vert — to get away from it all, to lie low (literally: to put oneself in the green)
- se mettre en travers de — to stand in the way of
- s'y mettre — to get to it, to start working on it
Le suspect s'est mis à table après deux heures d'interrogatoire.
The suspect spilled the beans after two hours of questioning.
Elle se met en quatre pour ses enfants.
She bends over backwards for her kids.
Allez, on s'y met — sinon on n'aura jamais fini.
Come on, let's get to it — otherwise we'll never be done.
Comparison with English
English splits this verb's territory across many constructions, and most beginners undertranslate se mettre.
- Start vs begin vs take up vs get into. English has start, begin, take up, launch into, get into. French collapses the inceptive sense into se mettre à
- infinitive. I started to learn Japanese = je me suis mis(e) à apprendre le japonais. Beginners often translate every English start with commencer, missing the more vivid se mettre à.
- Get angry, get tired, get going. English get
- adjective is one of the most flexible English constructions. French has nothing like it as a single pattern, but se mettre en
- state-noun covers many of the cases: se mettre en colère (get angry), se mettre en route (get going). When the noun is awkward, French uses other resources — je commence à fatiguer (I'm getting tired) rather than a se mettre construction.
- adjective is one of the most flexible English constructions. French has nothing like it as a single pattern, but se mettre en
- Stand up vs sit down. English stand up is se mettre debout (or se lever); sit down is s'asseoir. The pair is asymmetrical: se mettre
- posture for standing, but a dedicated verb (s'asseoir) for sitting.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Using commencer à where se mettre à is more natural.
❌ Il a commencé à pleuvoir d'un coup.
Not wrong, but stiff — for the sudden onset of an action, conversational French strongly prefers se mettre à.
✅ Il s'est mis à pleuvoir d'un coup.
It suddenly started raining.
Mistake 2: Using avoir in the passé composé.
❌ J'ai me mis au travail à neuf heures.
Wrong on two counts — pronominal verbs always use être, and the pronoun precedes the auxiliary.
✅ Je me suis mis(e) au travail à neuf heures.
I got to work at nine.
Mistake 3: Forgetting participle agreement.
❌ Elle s'est mis à pleurer.
Wrong — the reflexive se is the direct object referring to a feminine subject, so the participle must agree: mise.
✅ Elle s'est mise à pleurer.
She started to cry.
Mistake 4: Saying se mettre debout where French uses se lever.
❌ Mets-toi debout quand le juge entre.
Possible but stiff — for rising in formal contexts, se lever is more idiomatic.
✅ Lève-toi quand le juge entre.
Stand up when the judge enters.
Mistake 5: Calquing English put oneself in metaphorical contexts.
❌ Je me mets dans tes chaussures.
Wrong — the calque of 'put oneself in someone's shoes' doesn't work. French uses se mettre à la place de quelqu'un.
✅ Mets-toi à ma place.
Put yourself in my shoes.
Key takeaways
Se mettre is the high-frequency reflexive of mettre, and it covers far more semantic ground than its surface gloss put oneself suggests. Six core uses: place oneself somewhere; start (with à + infinitive); get into a state (with en + noun); agree (se mettre d'accord); take a body position (se mettre debout, à genoux); get oneself into a situation (se mettre dans).
The conjugation has the mettre alternation: singular drops one t (je me mets, tu te mets, il se met, all /mɛ/), plural restores it (nous nous mettons, vous vous mettez, ils se mettent). Compound tenses use être with full participle agreement: elle s'est mise à crier, ils se sont mis d'accord. The participle mis / mise /mi, miz/ has an audible feminine that lets you hear the agreement in speech.
The construction se mettre à + infinitive is one of the most useful patterns in conversational French — vivid, frequent, and the natural choice when commencer à would feel flat. Master se mettre, and you have access to roughly a dozen everyday constructions that English speakers consistently undertranslate.
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Start learning French→Related Topics
- Mettre: Full Verb ReferenceA1 — Mettre is the everyday verb for putting, placing, and putting on — but it also means to take time, to turn on, and (reflexively) to start. This page is the full reference: every paradigm, the core uses, the major idioms, and the family of compounds (permettre, promettre, admettre, soumettre, transmettre).
- Se lever: Full Verb ReferenceA1 — Se lever is the everyday verb for getting up — out of bed in the morning, out of a chair, off the ground. This page is the full reference: the e→è alternation, every paradigm, the transitive lever (to raise, to lift), and the idioms you need.
- Se coucher: Full Verb ReferenceA1 — Se coucher is the everyday verb for going to bed — and for laying down, for the sun setting, and for a handful of idioms about how the bed you make is the bed you lie in. This page is the full reference: paradigms, transitive uses, idioms, and the mistakes English speakers make.
- Se promener: Full Verb ReferenceA2 — Se promener is the everyday verb for going for a walk — strolling, wandering, taking a turn outside. This page is the full reference: the e→è alternation, every paradigm, the transitive promener (walking the dog), and the slangy aller se promener.
- Inceptive Aspect: commencer à, se mettre à, and MoreB1 — How French marks the start of an action: the neutral commencer à, the sudden se mettre à, the formal débuter and entamer, and the colloquial partir + infinitive. Each verb covers a different shading of beginning.
- L'Accord du Participe Passé des Verbes PronominauxB1 — Pronominal verbs use *être* in compound tenses but follow a different agreement rule than other *être* verbs: the past participle agrees with the reflexive pronoun *only when that pronoun is the direct object*. Body-part constructions and verbs taking *à quelqu'un* are the trap.