Se réveiller Conjugation in French
se réveiller means “wake up” in English, and it is a verb French learners meet early — it sits in VerbFlow’s frequency list for French. You use it for describing waking up, for talking about the morning, and for explaining an early start. Because it comes up in everyday conversation so often, learning its forms properly pays off from the very first week. It is a reflexive verb, so the pronoun comes before the verb in a sentence. This page gives you the complete conjugation of se réveiller — every tense, every person, the gerund and the past participle — with notes, examples, common mistakes and a quiz. Here is the verb in a natural sentence: “Je me réveille tôt.” — “I wake up early.”
Quick facts
- Infinitive: se réveiller
- English: wake up
- Verb type: Regular
- Irregular in: none — it is regular in every tense
- Gerund: en réveillant
- Past participle: réveillé
- Auxiliary: être (all perfect tenses are formed with être + the past participle)
Pronunciation
Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for se réveiller, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one.
Full conjugation tables
Every form below comes from VerbFlow’s verified conjugation tables for se réveiller. Learn the present tense first, then the passé composé and the imperfect, and add the remaining tenses one at a time.
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | réveille |
| tu | réveilles |
| il/elle | réveille |
| nous | réveillons |
| vous | réveillez |
| ils/elles | réveillent |
Passé simple
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | réveillai |
| tu | réveillas |
| il/elle | réveilla |
| nous | réveillâmes |
| vous | réveillâtes |
| ils/elles | réveillèrent |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | réveillais |
| tu | réveillais |
| il/elle | réveillait |
| nous | réveillions |
| vous | réveilliez |
| ils/elles | réveillaient |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | réveillerai |
| tu | réveilleras |
| il/elle | réveillera |
| nous | réveillerons |
| vous | réveillerez |
| ils/elles | réveilleront |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | réveillerais |
| tu | réveillerais |
| il/elle | réveillerait |
| nous | réveillerions |
| vous | réveilleriez |
| ils/elles | réveilleraient |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | réveille |
| tu | réveilles |
| il/elle | réveille |
| nous | réveillions |
| vous | réveilliez |
| ils/elles | réveillent |
Imperfect subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | réveillasse |
| tu | réveillasses |
| il/elle | réveillât |
| nous | réveillassions |
| vous | réveillassiez |
| ils/elles | réveillassent |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | suis réveillé |
| tu | es réveillé |
| il/elle | est réveillé |
| nous | sommes réveillé |
| vous | êtes réveillé |
| ils/elles | sont réveillé |
Pluperfect (past perfect)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | étais réveillé |
| tu | étais réveillé |
| il/elle | était réveillé |
| nous | étions réveillé |
| vous | étiez réveillé |
| ils/elles | étaient réveillé |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | serai réveillé |
| tu | seras réveillé |
| il/elle | sera réveillé |
| nous | serons réveillé |
| vous | serez réveillé |
| ils/elles | seront réveillé |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | serais réveillé |
| tu | serais réveillé |
| il/elle | serait réveillé |
| nous | serions réveillé |
| vous | seriez réveillé |
| ils/elles | seraient réveillé |
Imperative (affirmative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | réveille |
| nous | réveillons |
| vous | réveillez |
Imperative (negative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | réveille |
| nous | réveillons |
| vous | réveillez |
Gerund and past participle
| Form | French |
|---|---|
| Gerund | en réveillant |
| Past participle | réveillé |
The tables show the bare verb form as listed in the verified dump. In a sentence the reflexive pronoun comes before the verb — je me, tu te, il se, nous nous, vous vous, ils se — and in the perfect tenses it comes before the auxiliary, as in “Je me suis réveillé.”
When to use each tense
Present indicative
The present indicative is used for habits, facts and things happening now. For example: “Je me réveille à six heures.” — “I wake up at six o'clock.”
Passé simple
The passé simple is used for completed actions in the past, mainly in written and literary French. For example: “Je me réveillai à six heures hier.” — “I woke up at six o'clock yesterday.”
Imperfect
The imperfect is used for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and background description. For example: “Je me réveillais à six heures avant.” — “I used to wake up at six o'clock before.”
Future
The future is used for what will happen, predictions and plans. For example: “Je me réveillerai à six heures demain.” — “I will wake up at six o'clock tomorrow.”
Conditional
The conditional is used for what would happen, polite requests and hypothetical situations. For example: “Je me réveillerais à six heures un jour.” — “I would wake up at six o'clock one day.”
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is used for wishes, doubts, emotions and opinions after que. For example: “Bien que je me réveille à six heures” — “Although I wake up at six o'clock.”
Imperfect subjunctive
The imperfect subjunctive is used for the past subjunctive: wishes and hypotheticals about the past, in formal and literary French. For example: “Bien que je me réveillasse à six heures” — “Although I wake up at six o'clock.”
Present perfect
The present perfect is used for recent past actions and life experience; this is the everyday spoken past tense, the passé composé. For example: “Je me suis réveillé à six heures cette semaine.” — “I have woken up at six o'clock this week.”
Pluperfect (past perfect)
The pluperfect (past perfect) is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “Je me étais réveillé à six heures avant la fête.” — “I had woken up at six o'clock before the party.”
Future perfect
The future perfect is used for what will have happened by a point in the future. For example: “Je me serai réveillé à six heures pour demain.” — “I will have woken up at six o'clock by tomorrow.”
Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “Je me serais réveillé à six heures hier.” — “I would have woken up at six o'clock yesterday.”
Imperative (affirmative)
The imperative (affirmative) is used for direct commands and instructions. For example: “réveille-toi à six heures !” — “Wake up at six o'clock!”
Imperative (negative)
The imperative (negative) is used for prohibitions and negative commands. For example: “Ne te réveille pas à six heures !” — “Don't wake up at six o'clock!”
Gerund and past participle
The gerund en réveillant is used after en for an action in progress, and the past participle réveillé builds the perfect tenses with être. For example: “Je me suis réveillé tous les matins cette semaine.” — “I have woken up every morning this week.”
Example sentences
Ten natural sentences with se réveiller, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the French and try to produce it from the English.
- “Je me réveille tôt.” — “I wake up early.”
- “Tu te réveillas à six heures hier.” — “You woke up at six o'clock yesterday.”
- “Il se réveillait tous les matins avant.” — “He used to wake up every morning before.”
- “Je me réveillerai en forme demain.” — “I will wake up feeling fresh tomorrow.”
- “Tu te réveillerais tôt un jour.” — “You would wake up early one day.”
- “Il se est réveillé à six heures cette semaine.” — “He has woken up at six o'clock this week.”
- “Je me étais réveillé tous les matins avant la fête.” — “I had woken up every morning before the party.”
- “Tu te seras réveillé en forme pour demain.” — “You will have woken up feeling fresh by tomorrow.”
- “Bien que il se réveille tôt” — “Although he wakes up early.”
- “réveille-toi à six heures !” — “Wake up at six o'clock!”
Common mistakes
1. Dropping the reflexive pronoun
✗ Wrong: “Je réveille tôt.”
✓ Right: “Je me réveille tôt.”
se réveiller is reflexive: the pronoun (me, te, se…) belongs before the verb. Without it the sentence is incomplete.
2. Using the wrong person
✗ Wrong: “Je réveillons à six heures.”
✓ Right: “Je réveille à six heures.”
réveillons is the nous form. With je the present form is réveille — check the person in the table before you speak.
3. Using the present for a finished past action
✗ Wrong: “Hier, je réveille tôt.”
✓ Right: “Hier, j'suis réveillé tôt.”
The present réveille describes now. For something finished yesterday, use the passé composé suis réveillé.
4. Using the passé simple in everyday speech
✗ Wrong: “Hier, je réveillai tous les matins.” (in casual conversation)
✓ Right: “Hier, j'suis réveillé tous les matins.”
The passé simple réveillai belongs in novels and formal writing. In everyday speech, say the passé composé suis réveillé.
5. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger
✗ Wrong: “Bien que je réveille tôt.”
✓ Right: “Bien que je réveille tôt.”
After bien que French needs the subjunctive, so use réveille here, not the indicative réveille.
6. Using the imperfect for a single finished action
✗ Wrong: “Je réveillais en forme avant.” (said of one finished moment)
✓ Right: “J'suis réveillé en forme avant.”
The imperfect réveillais describes something ongoing or repeated in the past. For one finished action, use the passé composé suis réveillé.
Quiz: test yourself
Ten questions on se réveiller. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.
What is the je form of se réveiller in the Present indicative?
- A) réveillons
- B) réveillez
- C) réveillent
- D) réveille
What is the il/elle form of se réveiller in the Passé simple?
- A) réveilla
- B) réveillâmes
- C) réveillâtes
- D) réveillèrent
What is the nous form of se réveiller in the Imperfect?
- A) réveillait
- B) réveilliez
- C) réveillions
- D) réveillais
What is the tu form of se réveiller in the Future?
- A) réveilleras
- B) réveillerai
- C) réveillera
- D) réveilleront
What is the je form of se réveiller in the Conditional?
- A) réveilleraient
- B) réveilleriez
- C) réveillerait
- D) réveillerais
What is the il/elle form of se réveiller in the Present subjunctive?
- A) réveilles
- B) réveilliez
- C) réveille
- D) réveillions
What is the je form of se réveiller in the Imperfect subjunctive?
- A) réveillât
- B) réveillassent
- C) réveillasse
- D) réveillassiez
What is the gerund of se réveiller?
- A) réveillant
- B) buvant
- C) dormant
What is the past participle of se réveiller?
- A) bu
- B) réveillé
- C) dormi
What does se réveiller mean in English?
- A) wake up
- B) sleep
- C) drink
- D) open
Answer key
- D) réveille — The je form of se réveiller in the present indicative is réveille.
- A) réveilla — The il/elle form of se réveiller in the passé simple is réveilla.
- C) réveillions — The nous form of se réveiller in the imperfect is réveillions.
- A) réveilleras — The tu form of se réveiller in the future is réveilleras.
- D) réveillerais — The je form of se réveiller in the conditional is réveillerais.
- C) réveille — The il/elle form of se réveiller in the present subjunctive is réveille.
- C) réveillasse — The je form of se réveiller in the imperfect subjunctive is réveillasse.
- A) réveillant — The gerund of se réveiller is en réveillant; it is used after en for actions in progress.
- B) réveillé — The past participle of se réveiller is réveillé; perfect tenses use être + réveillé.
- A) wake up — se réveiller means “wake up” in English.
Frequently asked questions
What does se réveiller mean in English?
se réveiller means “wake up”. You use it for describing waking up, for talking about the morning, and for explaining an early start. It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.
Is se réveiller regular or irregular?
se réveiller is regular, and it is irregular in these tenses: none — it is regular in every tense. The gerund is en réveillant and the past participle is réveillé.
What are the gerund and past participle of se réveiller?
The gerund is en réveillant — use it after en for actions in progress. The past participle is réveillé — use it with être for the perfect tenses, as in suis réveillé.
How do I say “I wake up” in French?
Say “Je me réveille tôt.” — “I wake up early.” The je form of the present is réveille, and it is the form you will use most often.
What is the difference between se réveiller and se lever?
se réveiller means “wake up” while se lever means “get up” — they describe different actions, so they are not interchangeable. Compare the full table for se lever and check the meaning in context before you choose.
Related pages
- Se réveiller Present Tense Conjugation in French
- Se réveiller Examples, Sentences & Quiz in French
- Se lever conjugation
- Dormir conjugation
- Se coucher conjugation
- French verbs — the full hub of French conjugation pages.
- Spanish verbs — the full hub of Spanish conjugation pages.
- VerbFlow home — all languages and tools.
- Verb Conjugator — practise se réveiller with the interactive tool.
- Reflexive Verb Conjugator — practise se réveiller with the interactive tool.
- Verb Quiz — practise se réveiller with the interactive tool.