Conjugate reflexive verbs in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense)

Hi Fiona, 

If I have understood your question correctly the part you are struggling with is the extra pronoun 'se' which are pertinent to reflexive verbs ...

Take a look at the following lesson on reflexive verbs in the present tense -

https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/conjugate-reflexive-verb-se-lever-in-le-present-present-tense

This should show you how the additional 'se' figures with the following pronouns, il/elle/on/ils/elles .

Then you should be able to tackle reflexive verbs using the imperfect.

Hope this helps!

Merci Cécile.

French adhers to a pretty strict word order. That said, I don't believe you can say, "Vous réveilliez vous...". It is always "Vous vous réveilliez..." -- Chris (not a native speaker).

Both are correct Nigel but in general the French find the inversion more formal and don't use it as much in spoken French...hope this helps .

Cecile, OK, many thanks!! Does your response apply to simpler verb constructions as well, or primarily only the reflexive constructions? For example, is "Allez vous au cinema ce soir?" less likely to be heard than "Vous allez au cinema ce soir?" When might you choose to use/write the inversion rather than the direct form? Is there a lesson on the topic? Many thanks !!

Question to Cécile? Would the inverted form need a hyphen between the werb and the personal pronoun? As in: Vous réveillez-vous à 6 heures. Or is the hyphen only used in commands and questions? -- Chris.

As I understand it habiller means "to dress in" or "to dress up". S'habiller means to get dressed in the sense of putting one's clothes on. So to take your text "Nous nous habillions ......" this means to dress one's self not to dress up. Have I understood your query correctly? Hope this helps Alan

Hi Nigel,

I would have translated,

Nous nous habillions à...

by

We got dressed at... 

and indeed to dress up is se déguiser.

Will let Kwiziq know.

 

Depending on context, yes. It could also mean "you were washing yourself". Using the imparfait in French can be a bit tricky because the temporal structure in the English language is somewhat different. I found the corresponding lessons quite helpful.

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Here are the (useful!) corresponding lessons on how to use L'Imparfait :

https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/l-imparfait-usage-expressing-continuing-action-in-the-past-imperfect-tense

https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/l-imparfait-usage-expressing-habits-or-repeated-actions-in-the-past-imperfect-tense

https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/l-imparfait-usage-describing-and-expressing-opinions-in-the-past-imperfect-tense

 

Bonne journée !