Tu peux s'asseoir - French Mistake

Mistakes will always be made in French, and now you can learn from them.

Wrong: Tu peux s'asseoir

Right: Tu peux t'asseoir

Explanation: Most French students do fine with pronominal verbs in the personal verb moods: je me lève (I'm getting up), il faut que tu t'habilles (you have to get dressed), and so on.

But when it comes to impersonal verb forms, particularly the infinitive, students tend to overuse se, saying things like "tu peux s'asseoir" and "nous devons se coucher."

The problem is that the reflexive pronoun always has to agree with its subject, even in the infinitive, so you have to say tu peux t'asseoir (you can sit down), je vais me lever (I'm going to get up), nous devons nous coucher (we have to go to bed), etc.

The same rule applies to the present participle: En me levant, j'ai vu une souris (Upon/While getting up, I saw a mouse), not "En se levant, j'ai…"

Bottom line: while the infinitive and present participle are impersonal and therefore invariable, reflexive pronouns used with them are not - they always have to agree with their subjects.

Related lessons
   Pronominal verbs
   Personal vs impersonal
   Dual-verb constructions