L'Impératif: Pronominal Verbs in the Imperative

Reflexive (or "pronominal") verbs in the imperative are where the French pronoun system shows its full asymmetry. In the affirmative, the reflexive pronoun comes after the verb and uses its tonic form: Lève-toi! In the negative, the pronoun returns to its normal pre-verbal position and reverts to its clitic form: Ne te lève pas! This single flip is responsible for almost every mistake learners make with reflexive imperatives, and it is the rule you must drill until it is automatic.

This page walks through the affirmative paradigm, the negative paradigm, the te → toi alternation, the special case of te before en, and the dozen or so reflexive verbs that show up most often as imperatives in everyday French. By the end you should be able to tell someone to hurry up, calm down, sit down, wake up, wash their hands, get going, and not worry — all the bread-and-butter reflexive imperatives a French speaker uses every day.

What is a reflexive verb in the imperative?

A pronominal verb is one that includes a pronoun matching the subject as part of its meaning. Se laver (to wash oneself), se lever (to get up), s'asseoir (to sit down), se dépêcher (to hurry up), s'inquiéter (to worry), se souvenir (to remember). When you give a command using one of these verbs, the reflexive pronoun does not disappear — it follows the same pronoun-position rules as any object pronoun in the imperative.

The thing to internalize: the reflexive pronoun tracks the person of the addressee. If you are speaking to tu, the reflexive is te (or toi after the verb). If you are speaking to vous, it is vous. If you are saying "let's do X," it is nous.

Only the tu form alternates between te (clitic, pre-verbal) and toi (tonic, post-verbal). The nous and vous forms keep the same pronoun in both positions.

Affirmative: pronoun after the verb, hyphenated

In the affirmative imperative, the reflexive pronoun follows the verb and is joined to it with a hyphen. The 2sg pronoun te becomes toi.

Tu form: verb-toi

Nous form: verb-nous

The nous form is "Let's [verb] (ourselves)" — a proposal that includes the speaker.

Vous form: verb-vous

The vous form is the formal singular or the plural — used with a stranger, in a professional setting, or when addressing a group.

The Asseyez-vous / Servez-vous / Levez-vous trio is essentially impossible to avoid in everyday French — they appear in restaurants, offices, courtrooms, schools, and homes.

Why te becomes toi after the verb

The shift from te (clitic) to toi (tonic) is not an arbitrary spelling change. It reflects a deeper principle of French syntax: clitic pronouns (me, te, se, le, la, les, lui, leur, y, en, nous, vous) cannot stand at the end of a phrase or carry stress. They must be supported by an adjacent verb, and they must be unstressed.

In the affirmative imperative, the pronoun appears at the very end of the verb phrase — Lève-toi! ends in the pronoun. There is nothing after it for the clitic to lean on, and the pronoun receives natural stress at the end of the clause. So the language switches to the tonic (stressed) form: toi instead of te, moi instead of me. Nous and vous are already used as both clitic and tonic forms, so they don't change.

The special case: te → t' before en

There is one situation in the affirmative imperative where te does not become toi: when en follows. In that case, te keeps its clitic shape (elided to t' before the vowel of en).

The reasoning: when te is followed by another pronoun (en), it is no longer at the end of the phrase. It has en leaning on it and stress falling on en, so te can revert to its clitic form. The alternation is purely positional.

This means the rule is more precise than just "use toi after the verb in the affirmative imperative." The full rule:

• te → toi when it stands at the end of the verb phrase (no following pronoun)
• te → t' (clitic, elided) when followed by en

You will not encounter te + y in normal French — that combination is avoided.

Negative: pronoun before the verb, no hyphen

In a negative reflexive imperative, the pronoun returns to its normal pre-verbal position. The hyphen disappears, and the tu pronoun reverts from toi back to te.

Tu form: ne te + verb + pas

Nous form: ne nous + verb + pas

Vous form: ne vous + verb + pas

The asymmetry, side by side

The whole game in reflexive imperatives is the affirmative-negative asymmetry. Drilling the contrast directly is the fastest way to lock it in.

Note that for verbs like s'inquiéter, se calmer, se souvenir, se moquer, the negative is far more common than the affirmative. Ne t'inquiète pas is one of the highest-frequency reflexive imperatives in French; the affirmative Inquiète-toi is rare and usually has an ironic or surprised flavor.

Reflexive imperatives with body parts

A common construction: a reflexive verb governing a body part as direct object. The reflexive pronoun is indirect ("to oneself"), and the body part takes the definite article (not a possessive).

In English you say "Wash your hands"; in French you say Lave-toi les mains — literally "Wash to-yourself the hands." The reflexive pronoun marks possession of the body part; the article les is generic. This is one of the cleanest cases where French handles ownership differently from English.

High-frequency reflexive imperatives to memorize

If you are building everyday French fluency, these are the reflexive imperatives you will use or hear daily.

Pronoun position with reflexive + object pronouns

When a reflexive verb in the imperative also has a direct object, the order is:

• Affirmative: verb + reflexive + object (with hyphens) — Lave-toi les mains, Souviens-t'en.
• Negative: ne + reflexive + object + verb + pas — Ne te les lave pas, Ne t'en souviens pas.

This combination is the bridge to multi-pronoun imperatives, covered in detail on the Multiple Pronouns page.

How French differs from English here

English has nothing comparable to the French reflexive-imperative system. To tell someone to wake up, English just says "Wake up!" — there is no overt reflexive marker. French requires Réveille-toi!, with the reflexive pronoun toi marking the verb as pronominal.

The reason is that French distinguishes morphologically between:

• Réveiller (to wake [someone else] up) — Réveille-le! (Wake him up!)
• Se réveiller (to wake [oneself] up) — Réveille-toi! (Wake [yourself] up!)

These are different verbs in French, even though English uses the same form for both. The reflexive pronoun is what tells the listener whether the action is directed at the addressee themselves or at a third party.

This is why mistakes like Lève! (intended as "Get up!") are not just stylistically wrong — they are unparseable. Lever without a reflexive means "to lift [something]," so a French listener hears Lève! as "Lift [unspecified object]!" and waits for clarification.

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Forgetting the reflexive pronoun in the affirmative.

Mistake 2: Using te instead of toi after the verb.

Mistake 3: Using toi in the negative imperative.

Mistake 4: Keeping the hyphen in the negative.

Mistake 5: Using a possessive instead of the reflexive + definite article with body parts.

Key takeaways

• Reflexive verbs in the imperative follow the same pronoun-position rule as other object pronouns: after the verb in affirmative, before the verb in negative.
• te becomes toi after the verb in the affirmative (Lève-toi!) but stays as te in the negative (Ne te lève pas!).
• Exception: te stays as t' (elided) when followed by en in the affirmative — Va-t'en!, Souviens-t'en!.
• The nous and vous reflexive pronouns do not change form between affirmative and negative — only their position changes.
• With body parts, French uses reflexive + definite article (not possessive): Lave-toi les mains (Wash your hands).
• Drill the contrast: Asseyez-vous! / Ne vous asseyez pas!, Lève-toi! / Ne te lève pas!, Va-t'en! / Ne t'en va pas!. The asymmetry is the whole topic.