Se souvenir Conjugation in French
se souvenir means “remember” in English, and it is a verb French learners meet early — it sits in VerbFlow’s frequency list for French. You use it for talking about memories, for remembering childhood, and for recalling a name. 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 souvenir — 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 souviens de mon enfance.” — “I remember of my childhood.”
Quick facts
- Infinitive: se souvenir
- English: remember
- Verb type: Irregular
- Irregular in: present, passe-simple, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative
- Gerund: en souvenant
- Past participle: souvenu
- 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 souvenir, 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 souvenir. 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 | souviens |
| tu | souviens |
| il/elle | souvient |
| nous | souvenons |
| vous | souvenez |
| ils/elles | souviennent |
Passé simple
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | souvins |
| tu | souvins |
| il/elle | souvint |
| nous | souvînmes |
| vous | souvîntes |
| ils/elles | souvinrent |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | souvenais |
| tu | souvenais |
| il/elle | souvenait |
| nous | souvenions |
| vous | souveniez |
| ils/elles | souvenaient |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | souviendrai |
| tu | souviendras |
| il/elle | souviendra |
| nous | souviendrons |
| vous | souviendrez |
| ils/elles | souviendront |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | souviendrais |
| tu | souviendrais |
| il/elle | souviendrait |
| nous | souviendrions |
| vous | souviendriez |
| ils/elles | souviendraient |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | souvienne |
| tu | souviennes |
| il/elle | souvienne |
| nous | souvenions |
| vous | souveniez |
| ils/elles | souviennent |
Imperfect subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | souvinsse |
| tu | souvinsses |
| il/elle | souvînt |
| nous | souvinssions |
| vous | souvinssiez |
| ils/elles | souvinssent |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | suis souvenu |
| tu | es souvenu |
| il/elle | est souvenu |
| nous | sommes souvenu |
| vous | êtes souvenu |
| ils/elles | sont souvenu |
Pluperfect (past perfect)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | étais souvenu |
| tu | étais souvenu |
| il/elle | était souvenu |
| nous | étions souvenu |
| vous | étiez souvenu |
| ils/elles | étaient souvenu |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | serai souvenu |
| tu | seras souvenu |
| il/elle | sera souvenu |
| nous | serons souvenu |
| vous | serez souvenu |
| ils/elles | seront souvenu |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | serais souvenu |
| tu | serais souvenu |
| il/elle | serait souvenu |
| nous | serions souvenu |
| vous | seriez souvenu |
| ils/elles | seraient souvenu |
Imperative (affirmative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | souviens |
| nous | souvenons |
| vous | souvenez |
Imperative (negative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | souviens |
| nous | souvenons |
| vous | souvenez |
Gerund and past participle
| Form | French |
|---|---|
| Gerund | en souvenant |
| Past participle | souvenu |
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 souvenu.”
When to use each tense
Present indicative
The present indicative is used for habits, facts and things happening now. With se souvenir this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Je me souviens de ce jour.” — “I remember of that day.”
Passé simple
The passé simple is used for completed actions in the past, mainly in written and literary French. With se souvenir this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Je me souvins de ce jour hier.” — “I remembered of that day yesterday.”
Imperfect
The imperfect is used for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and background description. For example: “Je me souvenais de ce jour avant.” — “I used to remember of that day before.”
Future
The future is used for what will happen, predictions and plans. For example: “Je me souviendrai de ce jour demain.” — “I will remember of that day tomorrow.”
Conditional
The conditional is used for what would happen, polite requests and hypothetical situations. For example: “Je me souviendrais de ce jour un jour.” — “I would remember of that day one day.”
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is used for wishes, doubts, emotions and opinions after que. With se souvenir this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Bien que je me souvienne de ce jour” — “Although I remember of that day.”
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 souvinsse de ce jour” — “Although I remember of that day.”
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 souvenu de ce jour cette semaine.” — “I have remembered of that day this week.”
Pluperfect (past perfect)
The pluperfect (past perfect) is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “Je me étais souvenu de ce jour avant la fête.” — “I had remembered of that day 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 souvenu de ce jour pour demain.” — “I will have remembered of that day by tomorrow.”
Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “Je me serais souvenu de ce jour hier.” — “I would have remembered of that day yesterday.”
Imperative (affirmative)
The imperative (affirmative) is used for direct commands and instructions. With se souvenir this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “souviens-toi de ce jour !” — “Remember of that day!”
Imperative (negative)
The imperative (negative) is used for prohibitions and negative commands. With se souvenir this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Ne te souviens pas de ce jour !” — “Don't remember of that day!”
Gerund and past participle
The gerund en souvenant is used after en for an action in progress, and the past participle souvenu builds the perfect tenses with être. For example: “Je me suis souvenu de son nom cette semaine.” — “I have remembered of his name this week.”
Example sentences
Ten natural sentences with se souvenir, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the French and try to produce it from the English.
- “Je me souviens de mon enfance.” — “I remember of my childhood.”
- “Tu te souvins de ce jour hier.” — “You remembered of that day yesterday.”
- “Il se souvenait de son nom avant.” — “He used to remember of his name before.”
- “Je me souviendrai de tout demain.” — “I will remember of everything tomorrow.”
- “Tu te souviendrais de mon enfance un jour.” — “You would remember of my childhood one day.”
- “Il se est souvenu de ce jour cette semaine.” — “He has remembered of that day this week.”
- “Je me étais souvenu de son nom avant la fête.” — “I had remembered of his name before the party.”
- “Tu te seras souvenu de tout pour demain.” — “You will have remembered of everything by tomorrow.”
- “Bien que il se souvienne de mon enfance” — “Although he remembers of my childhood.”
- “souviens-toi de ce jour !” — “Remember of that day!”
Common mistakes
1. Dropping the reflexive pronoun
✗ Wrong: “Je souviens tôt.”
✓ Right: “Je me souviens tôt.”
se souvenir is reflexive: the pronoun (me, te, se…) belongs before the verb. Without it the sentence is incomplete.
2. Using the wrong person
✗ Wrong: “Je souvenons de ce jour.”
✓ Right: “Je souviens de ce jour.”
souvenons is the nous form. With je the present form is souviens — check the person in the table before you speak.
3. Using the present for a finished past action
✗ Wrong: “Hier, je souviens de mon enfance.”
✓ Right: “Hier, j'suis souvenu de mon enfance.”
The present souviens describes now. For something finished yesterday, use the passé composé suis souvenu.
4. Using the passé simple in everyday speech
✗ Wrong: “Hier, je souvins de son nom.” (in casual conversation)
✓ Right: “Hier, j'suis souvenu de son nom.”
The passé simple souvins belongs in novels and formal writing. In everyday speech, say the passé composé suis souvenu.
5. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger
✗ Wrong: “Bien que je souviens de mon enfance.”
✓ Right: “Bien que je souvienne de mon enfance.”
After bien que French needs the subjunctive, so use souvienne here, not the indicative souviens.
6. Using the imperfect for a single finished action
✗ Wrong: “Je souvenais de tout avant.” (said of one finished moment)
✓ Right: “J'suis souvenu de tout avant.”
The imperfect souvenais describes something ongoing or repeated in the past. For one finished action, use the passé composé suis souvenu.
Quiz: test yourself
Ten questions on se souvenir. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.
What is the je form of se souvenir in the Present indicative?
- A) souvenons
- B) souviennent
- C) souvient
- D) souviens
What is the il/elle form of se souvenir in the Passé simple?
- A) souvinrent
- B) souvint
- C) souvînmes
- D) souvîntes
What is the nous form of se souvenir in the Imperfect?
- A) souveniez
- B) souvenions
- C) souvenait
- D) souvenaient
What is the tu form of se souvenir in the Future?
- A) souviendras
- B) souviendrai
- C) souviendrez
- D) souviendra
What is the je form of se souvenir in the Conditional?
- A) souviendrais
- B) souviendriez
- C) souviendrions
- D) souviendrait
What is the il/elle form of se souvenir in the Present subjunctive?
- A) souvienne
- B) souviennes
- C) souveniez
- D) souvenions
What is the je form of se souvenir in the Imperfect subjunctive?
- A) souvînt
- B) souvinsse
- C) souvinssiez
- D) souvinssions
What is the gerund of se souvenir?
- A) souvenant
- B) dormant
- C) buvant
What is the past participle of se souvenir?
- A) bu
- B) dormi
- C) souvenu
What does se souvenir mean in English?
- A) drink
- B) remember
- C) sleep
- D) open
Answer key
- D) souviens — The je form of se souvenir in the present indicative is souviens.
- B) souvint — The il/elle form of se souvenir in the passé simple is souvint.
- B) souvenions — The nous form of se souvenir in the imperfect is souvenions.
- A) souviendras — The tu form of se souvenir in the future is souviendras.
- A) souviendrais — The je form of se souvenir in the conditional is souviendrais.
- A) souvienne — The il/elle form of se souvenir in the present subjunctive is souvienne.
- B) souvinsse — The je form of se souvenir in the imperfect subjunctive is souvinsse.
- A) souvenant — The gerund of se souvenir is en souvenant; it is used after en for actions in progress.
- C) souvenu — The past participle of se souvenir is souvenu; perfect tenses use être + souvenu.
- B) remember — se souvenir means “remember” in English.
Frequently asked questions
What does se souvenir mean in English?
se souvenir means “remember”. You use it for talking about memories, for remembering childhood, and for recalling a name. It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.
Is se souvenir regular or irregular?
se souvenir is irregular, and it is irregular in these tenses: present, passe-simple, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. The gerund is en souvenant and the past participle is souvenu.
What are the gerund and past participle of se souvenir?
The gerund is en souvenant — use it after en for actions in progress. The past participle is souvenu — use it with être for the perfect tenses, as in suis souvenu.
How do I say “I remember” in French?
Say “Je me souviens de mon enfance.” — “I remember of my childhood.” The je form of the present is souviens, and it is the form you will use most often.
What is the difference between se souvenir and oublier?
se souvenir means “remember” while oublier means “forget” — they describe different actions, so they are not interchangeable. Compare the full table for oublier and check the meaning in context before you choose.
Related pages
- Se souvenir Passé Composé Tense in French
- Se souvenir Examples, Sentences & Quiz in French
- Oublier conjugation
- Penser conjugation
- Raconter 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 souvenir with the interactive tool.
- Reflexive Verb Conjugator — practise se souvenir with the interactive tool.
- Irregular Verb Finder — practise se souvenir with the interactive tool.