How to conjugate reflexive verbs in the present and perfect tense

In French, we use reflexive verbs to speak about an action that is done to oneself. We can think about reflexive verbs as reflecting back on the person that is doing the action. For example, I wake myself up – Je me réveille. We can identify reflexive verbs in the infinitive form by the reflexive pronoun se, which is placed in front of the verb. Reflexive verbs are conjugated like any other regular verb. For example, laver and se laver would be conjugated with the same endings. The difference comes when we add a reflexive pronoun to highlight that the action is being done to oneself.We can see the difference in the example below: Je lave la voiture – ‘I wash the car’.Je me lave – ‘I wash myself’.The reflexive pronouns are as follows:Je meTu te Il/elle/on se Nous nousVous vous Ils/elles seRemember! The reflexive pronoun you use must agree with the subject. This can make a big difference in the meaning of the phrase and, if you’re not careful, could lead to a misunderstanding. For example, je me brosse les dents means ‘I brush my teeth’. However, je te brosse les dents means ‘I brush your teeth’! Forming reflexive verbsAs mentioned above, we conjugate reflexive verbs as we would any regular verb. To make them reflexive, we must then add the relevant reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous). It’s also important to remember that the pronoun is positioned directly before the verb in the present tense*. For example, se lever - to get (oneself) up, is conjugated as follows:Je me lève - I get upTu te lèves - you get upIl/elle se lève - he/she gets upOn se lève - we get upNous nous levons - we get upVous vous levez - you get upIls/elles se lèvent - they get up*This positioning also applies in the negative form: Je ne me lève pas – I don’t get up. The last thing to remember when forming these sentences is that before a vowel or a silent ‘h’, pronouns will lose the vowel and replace it with an apostrophe. For example, I get dressed - je m’habille. Reflexive verbs in the passé composé (perfect tense)When forming a sentence with a reflexive verb in the past, the most important thing to remember is that all reflexive verbs take the verb être. When we form the passé compose using être as the auxiliary verb, the past participle must agree with the subject in gender and number**. Furthermore, the positioning of the reflective pronoun changes slightly in the perfect tense. Here, the reflexive pronoun goes before the auxiliary verb (être). Let’s have a look at the conjugation in the passé compose.Se lever - to get upJe me suis levé(e)Tu t’es levé(e)Il s’est levéElle s’est levéeOn s’est levé(e)(s)Nous nous sommes levé(e)sVous vous êtes levé(e)(s)Ils se sont levésElles se sont levées.**A quirky side note just to confuse matters:When the reflexive verb is followed by an object, the past participle ceases to agree with the subject. Elle s’est brossé les dents – she brushed her teeth (‘teeth’ is the object).