Reflecting on the Reflexive

Read the conversation below:

Adam: I am going to shave.
Jacques: Who are you going to shave?
Adam: I am going to shave myself. Who else?
Jacques: Well, you should have said so in the first place, you idiot. If you do not say who you are going to shave, you could be shaving anyone.
Adam: You are a pervert.
Jacques: No, I am French. You must not be an English idiot.
Adam: I want to shower.
Jacques: Who do you want to shower? Oh la la.
Adam: I want to shower. You know, I want to wash myself.
Jacques: You idiot. You got me all excited. You should have told me you were going to shower yourself. You must always tell me who you are going to shower.
Adam: I want to brush my teeth.
Jacques: You are learning idiot but your style is poor. You should say "I want to me to brush the teeth".
Adam: Have you been drinking?
Jacques: Just a little wine.
Adam: You must you stop from drinking.
Jacques: Ah, you are starting to speak the beautiful French.

In all languages, we have what are called transitive verbs and intransitive verbs. A transitive verb is one that must take an object or similar, for example, "feel". You would never sa "I feel". Something is missing. What do you feel? How do you feel? This verb has to have something after it. An intransitive verb is one that does not require something afterwards, for example, "understand". You can say "I understand" and that would make perfectly good sense. Yes, you can put something afterwards as in the sentence "I understand French" but it is not always required as is the case with transitive verbs. In French, most verbs are transitive verbs. You almost always have to say to whom or what you are performing an action.

Examples

Je me douche.                    I am showering (me).
Il se lave.                           He is washing (himself).
Elles se vont.                     They are leaving. (Literally: They are making themselves go.)
Le bus s'arrêtte.                 The bus is stopping (itself).
Nous nous battons.            We are fighting. (Literally: We are making each other fight OR we are
                                           fighting to us.


Remember that in the perfect tense, we use the verb être and not avoir with reflexive verbs. Hence, we have the examples below.

Examples

Je me suis douché.             I showered.
Il s'est lavé.                        He washed.
Elles se sont allées.            They washed.
Le bus s'est arrêté.             The bus stopped.
Nous nous sommes battus. We fought/We had a fight.