se lever Examples, Sentences & Quiz in French

se lever — get up — is one of the verbs you will use every day in French. se lever is the verb for describing your morning routine: it comes up whenever you talk about talking about getting up early or explaining a school morning. On this page you will find se lever in real sentences, grouped by meaning and tense, two short texts that show it in context, the mistakes learners actually make with it, and a ten-question quiz with explained answers. Start with the examples, say them aloud, and then test yourself.

Example sentences with se lever

In the present tense

  • “Je me lève tôt.” — “I get up early.”
  • “Tu te lèves à six heures.” — “You get up at six o'clock.”
  • “Il se lève tous les jours.” — “He gets up every day.”
  • “Nous nous levons vite.” — “We get up quickly.”
  • “Vous vous levez tôt.” — “You get up early.”
  • “Ils se lèvent à six heures.” — “They get up at six o'clock.”

In the passé composé

  • “Je me suis levé tôt cette semaine.” — “I have got up early this week.”
  • “Tu te es levé à six heures cette semaine.” — “You have got up at six o'clock this week.”
  • “Il se est levé tous les jours cette semaine.” — “He has got up every day this week.”
  • “Nous nous sommes levé vite cette semaine.” — “We have got up quickly this week.”
  • “Vous vous êtes levé tôt cette semaine.” — “You have got up early this week.”
  • “Ils se sont levé à six heures cette semaine.” — “They have got up at six o'clock this week.”

In other tenses

The same verb in the imperfect, the future, the conditional and the present subjunctive — the four tenses that complete the picture. All forms come from the verified tables.

  • “Je me levais tôt avant.” — “I used to get up early before.”
  • “Je me lèverai à six heures demain.” — “I will get up at six o'clock tomorrow.”
  • “Je me lèverais tous les jours un jour.” — “I would get up every day one day.”
  • “Bien que il se lève vite” — “Although he gets up quickly.”

se lever in context

Je me lève tôt. Tu te lèves à six heures. Il se lève tous les jours. Nous nous levons vite.

I get up early. You get up at six o'clock. He gets up every day. We get up quickly.

Je me suis levé tôt. Il se est levé à six heures. Nous nous sommes levé tous les jours.

I have got up early this week. He has got up at six o'clock this week. We have got up every day this week.

Common mistakes with se lever

Mistake 1

Wrong: Je se lever tôt.

Right: Je lève tôt.

The infinitive never takes a subject: after je you need the conjugated form lève.

Mistake 2

Wrong: Je levons à six heures.

Right: Je lève à six heures.

levons is the nous form. With je, use lève.

Mistake 3

Wrong: Hier, je lève tous les jours.

Right: Hier, j'suis levé tous les jours.

Yesterday needs the passé composé suis levé, not the present.

Mistake 4

Wrong: Bien que je lève vite.

Right: Bien que je lève vite.

After bien que French needs the subjunctive lève.

Mistake 5

Wrong: Je levais tôt hier. (said of one finished moment)

Right: J'suis levé tôt hier.

The imperfect describes an ongoing or repeated past. One finished moment yesterday takes the passé composé.

Quiz: test yourself on se lever

Ten questions on se lever. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.

  1. What is the tu form of se lever in the Present indicative?

    • A) lèves
    • B) lèvent
    • C) levons
    • D) lève

  2. What is the nous form of se lever in the Present indicative?

    • A) levons
    • B) lève
    • C) lèvent
    • D) lèves

  3. What is the il/elle form of se lever in the Present perfect?

    • A) êtes levé
    • B) suis levé
    • C) es levé
    • D) est levé

  4. What is the je form of se lever in the Imperfect?

    • A) levais
    • B) leviez
    • C) levions
    • D) levait

  5. What is the nous form of se lever in the Future?

    • A) lèverez
    • B) lèverai
    • C) lèveront
    • D) lèverons

  6. What is the tu form of se lever in the Conditional?

    • A) lèverions
    • B) lèverais
    • C) lèveraient
    • D) lèverait

  7. What is the je form of se lever in the Present subjunctive?

    • A) leviez
    • B) lèves
    • C) lève
    • D) lèvent

  8. What is the il/elle form of se lever in the Imperfect subjunctive?

    • A) levât
    • B) levasses
    • C) levassions
    • D) levassiez

  9. What is the gerund of se lever?

    • A) levant
    • B) buvant
    • C) dormant

  10. What is the past participle of se lever?

  • A) levé
  • B) dormi
  • C) bu

Answer key

  1. A) lèves — The tu form of se lever in the present indicative is lèves.
  2. A) levons — The nous form of se lever in the present indicative is levons.
  3. D) est levé — The il/elle form of se lever in the present perfect is est levé.
  4. A) levais — The je form of se lever in the imperfect is levais.
  5. D) lèverons — The nous form of se lever in the future is lèverons.
  6. B) lèverais — The tu form of se lever in the conditional is lèverais.
  7. C) lève — The je form of se lever in the present subjunctive is lève.
  8. A) levât — The il/elle form of se lever in the imperfect subjunctive is levât.
  9. A) levant — The gerund of se lever is en levant; it is used after en for actions in progress.
  10. A) levé — The past participle of se lever is levé; perfect tenses use être + levé.

Frequently asked questions

What does se lever mean in English?

se lever means “get up”. You use it for describing your morning routine, for talking about getting up early, and for explaining a school morning.

Is se lever regular or irregular?

se lever is regular with a spelling change (grave-e), and it is irregular in these tenses: present, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. The gerund is en levant and the past participle is levé.

How do I say “I get up” in French?

Say “Je me lève tôt.” — “I get up early.” The je form of the present is lève.

Where can I see the full conjugation of se lever?

On the full conjugation page, which has every tense, and on the Se lever Present Tense Conjugation in French page.

How to practise se lever this week

Pick one tense a day and say five sentences with se lever out loud, using the examples on this page as your starting point. On the first day, use only the present tense and the complements from the examples above — tôt, à six heures and tous les jours — and change only the person, so you hear how lève, lèves and lève sound next to each other. On the second day, retell yesterday in the passé composé with suis levé and the other perfect forms from the table. On the third day, write three short plans for tomorrow in the future tense, and on the fourth day, turn them into polite conditional sentences. Keep a small notebook and write each new sentence down: seeing en levant and levé in your own handwriting fixes them in memory far better than reading them once. Finally, take the quiz above again without looking at the answer key — when you can answer all ten questions from memory, move on to the next verb in the hub.

Pronunciation

Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for se lever, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one.

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