Practice Makes Perfect

Passive pronominals

A third type of pronominal verb is called passive. With the passive pronominal verbs, the subject 

is not a person or an animal. The subject does not perform the action of the verb but rather is 

subjected to it. It is in the third-person singular, with se.

Ça ne se dit pas. 

This is not said.

Ça ne se fait pas. 

This is not done.

Comment ça se traduit? 

How is it (that) translated?

Ça se voit. 

It shows.

Le vin rouge se boit chambré. 

Red wine is drunk at room temperature.

Subjective pronominals

The last type of pronominal verb is called subjective. These verbs are neither reflexive nor recip-

rocal. For idiomatic or historical reasons, they just happen to use the pronominal forms. Try to 

learn their infinitives with the pronoun se.

Elle s’en va. (s’en aller) 

She is leaving.

Il se doute de quelque chose. (se douter de)  He suspects something.

Ils s’entendent très bien. (s’entendre [avec])  They get along very well.

Here’s a list of commonly used subjective verbs:

s’apercevoir 

to realize