The imperative of French pronominal verbs: Lève-toi !, Ne t'inquiète pas !

Lève-toi !Get up!

You already know the imperative drops the subject pronoun, and you already know pronominal verbs need their own pronoun — me, te, se... Giving a command with a pronominal verb like se lever or s'habiller combines both: the same three forms (tu, nous, vous), minus the subject. What's new is where the pronominal pronoun goes — and that depends on whether the command is affirmative or negative.

Quick shortcut: affirmative — pronoun after the verb, joined with a hyphen, and te becomes toi: Lève-toi ! negative — pronoun back before the verb, wrapped in ne... pas, and toi reverts to te: Ne te lève pas !

Affirmative commands: pronoun after the verb

Take the subject pronoun away to get the verb form, then attach the matching pronominal pronoun after it with a hyphen. In this position, me becomes moi and te becomes toi:

• Allez, lève-toi, il est huit heures ! (Come on, get up, it's eight o'clock!)
• Dépêchons-nous, le film commence bientôt. (Let's hurry, the film starts soon.)

This is the same after-the-verb, hyphenated position — and the same me → moi / te → toi switch — as any other object pronoun in the affirmative imperative, covered in object pronoun position.

The lost -s stays lost

Pronominal verbs conjugated like parler — se lever, s'habiller, se dépêcher, se reposer and most others in -er — still follow the regular imperative rule that drops the tu form's final -s, even once toi is attached:

• ✅ Lève-toi ! — never ❌ Lèves-toi !
• ✅ Habille-toi ! — never ❌ Habilles-toi !

Negative commands: pronoun back in front

Negate the same command, and the pronoun goes straight back to its ordinary spot in front of the verb — the whole thing wrapped in ne... pas, with toi reverting to te:

• ✅ Ne te lève pas ! — never ❌ Ne lève-toi pas !
• ✅ Ne nous dépêchons pas. (Let's not hurry.)
• ✅ Ne vous habillez pas encore. (Don't get dressed yet.)

Te elides to t' before a vowel or mute h, exactly as in an ordinary negative sentence:

• Ne t'inquiète pas ! (Don't worry!)
• *Ne **t'*habille pas si vite. (Don't get dressed so fast.)

Irregular pronominal verbs

A couple of common pronominal verbs have irregular imperatives, but the pronoun-placement pattern above still applies exactly the same way:

• Assieds-toi, je t'en prie. (Sit down, please.)
• Tais-toi, j'essaie d'écouter. (Be quiet, I'm trying to listen.)

Common mistakes

• ❌ Lèves-toi ! → ✅ Lève-toi ! (no -s on a verb conjugated like parler, even hyphenated)
• ❌ Te lève ! → ✅ Lève-toi ! (in the affirmative the pronoun goes after the verb, and te becomes toi)
• ❌ Ne lève-toi pas ! → ✅ Ne te lève pas ! (the negative puts the pronoun back in front, and toi reverts to te)
• ❌ Ne t'inquiètes pas ! → ✅ Ne t'inquiète pas ! (still no -s, even wrapped in ne... pas)

Quick check

Give the imperative asked for:

1. (tu, se lever) — affirmative: ____
2. (nous, s'asseoir) — affirmative: ____
3. (vous, s'inquiéter) — negative: ____
4. (tu, se taire) — negative: ____
5. (tu, se dépêcher) — affirmative: ____

Key takeaways

• A pronominal-verb command uses the same three forms as any imperative — tu, nous, vous — minus the subject pronoun.
• Affirmative: the pronominal pronoun attaches after the verb with a hyphen, and te becomes toi — Lève-toi !
• Negative: the pronoun goes straight back in front of the verb, inside ne... pas, with toi reverting to te — Ne te lève pas !
• Verbs conjugated like parler (se lever, s'habiller, se dépêcher...) still lose the tu form's final -s, hyphen or no hyphen.
• Irregular pronominal verbs like s'asseoir (assieds-toi) and se taire (tais-toi) follow the exact same placement pattern.