Daily life: dormir - to sleep / "se" verbs

Bonjour! Today, a lesson for level A1 (debutants/beginners) -but a good review for A2

Tamara de Lempicka: la dormeuse (the sleeper)

Today's lesson revolves around dormir (to sleep), and the daily activities around it.

Focus:
vocabulary: daily life, sleep
grammar: "se" verbs (reflexive/pronominal verbs)

To listen to the lesson, click on the audio player:

A few verbs:
dormir is irregular
je dors
tu dors
il/elle/on dort
nous dormons
vous dormez
ils/elles dorment
!!! notice how you drop the "m" for the first 3 persons and put the "m" back for the last 3 !!!

Se coucher (to go to bed), se lever (to get up), se réveiller (to wake up)
These are pronominal verbs, they are preceded by "se" -I like to call them "se" verbs*.
Their conjugation always starts the same way:
je me ...
tu te ...
il/elle/on se ...
nous nous ...
vous vous ...
ils/elles se ...
I strongly recommend memorizing this. That way, it's in your head and it will come out automatically when you need it!
!!! If the verb starts with a vowel, "me", "te" and "se" become m', t', s'
(je m'..., tu t'..., il/elle/on s' ..., ils/elles s' ...)

Once again: all the conjugations of "se" verbs start with:
je me/m', tu te/t', il se/s', elle se/s', on se/s', 
nous nous, vous vous, ils se/s', elles se/s'... voilà!

A lot of these "se" verbs are used for daily activities.
Let's get into more detail...

se coucher and se réveiller are conjugated like regular ER-ending verbs:
se coucher to go to bed
je me couche, tu te couches, il/elle/on se couche
nous nous couchons, vous vous couchez, ils/elles se couchent
se réveiller to wake up
je me réveille, tu te réveilles, il/elle/on se réveille
nous nous réveillons, vous vous réveillez, ils/elles se réveillent
Se lever is a peculiar ER- ending verb:
se lever to get up (lever = to raise -think of "levitate", so "se lever" is lit. "to raise oneself")
- This one needs an extra little something:
an accent grave ( `) on the "e" before last for 4 conjugations (all of the singular + the 3rd person plural), to make the "e" sound like "ay".
Je me ve
Tu te lèves
Il/elle/on se lève
Nous nous levons
Vous vous levez
Ils/elles se lèvent 
NB: More verbs follow this rule of the accent, we will have a lesson on them later. 
Meanwhile, just memorize "se lever"! 
 Nicolas Bernard Lepicié, Lever de Fanchon (1773)

A little more about "se" verbs:
"se" verbs often indicate an action: to go to bed, to get up (i.e. to go from "lying down" to "being up"), to wake up (to go from "being asleep" to "being awake")

An exemple of this:
"dormir" means to sleep while the verb "s'endormir" means "to fall asleep".
"S'endormir" conjugates like "dormir"
>>> !!! because the verb starts with a vowel, don't forget that me, te, se become m', t', s'
je m'endors
tu t'endors
il/elle/on s'endort
nous nous endormons
vous vous endormez
ils/elles s'endorment

That's all for the conjugations, now, some vocabulary:
le lit the bed
aller au lit to go to bed
le lever de soleil sun rise
le coucher de soleil sun set
le matin the morning or "in the morning"
le soir evening/night or "in the evening / at night"
l'après-midi afternoon or "in the afternoon"
la nuit night / night time (but not late evening! night is the time when people usually sleep!)
tôt / de bonne heure early
tard late
être fatigué-e to be tired
le sommeil the sleep
tout de suite right away
toujours always
souvent often
très very
le chat the cat
l'enfant the child

ne ... pas: expresses the negative, "le négatif".
--- "Ne" and "pas" are placed around the verb.
Je dors = I sleep ≠ Je ne dors pas = I don't sleep
Elle est fatiguée ≠ Elle n'est pas fatiguée = she is not tired
Tu vas au lit ≠ Tu ne vas pas au lit = You are not going to bed

Charles Gleyre, le coucher de Sapho (1867)

Exercice:
1- place the missing word in the sentence
2- chose the right translation

To listen to the sentences, click on the audio player:

1- Le matin, elle se toujours très tôt.
=
2- L'enfant est très fatigué: il s' tout de suite.
=
3- Le chat ne dort pas la nuit, il dort toujours l' !
=
4- Tu réveilles tard le week-end.
=
5- Le sommeil est très important: le soir,
je me couche toujours .
=


*all "se" verbs are not reflexive, that's why I don't call them "reflexive verbs", some are reciprocal (doing something to each other) or just idiomatic.

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