French Morning Routine Verbs: La routine du matin in 10 Verbs
Every French morning is the same ten actions: the alarm, the bed, the shower, the teeth, the mirror, the coffee, the door. Learn those ten verbs and you can describe your whole day before breakfast — which is exactly why la routine du matin is one of the first topics in any French course, and a favourite exam question. My new video names all ten out loud; this guide adds the pronunciation and the one grammar point that trips everyone up: that little se.
The 10 French morning routine verbs
Here are the ten verbs from the video, in the order you actually do them, each with an English-friendly pronunciation. Say them out loud and picture the action, not the English translation.
- se réveiller — to wake up (suh ray-vay-yay)
- se lever — to get up (suh luh-vay)
- se doucher — to shower (suh doo-shay)
- se brosser les dents — to brush your teeth (suh bro-say lay dahn)
- se raser — to shave (suh rah-zay)
- se maquiller — to put on makeup (suh mah-kee-yay)
- s'habiller — to get dressed (sah-bee-yay)
- se coiffer — to do your hair (suh kwah-fay)
- prendre son café — to have your coffee (prahndr sohn kah-fay)
- partir au travail — to leave for work (par-teer oh trah-vye)
Why do they nearly all start with "se"?
Eight of these ten are pronominal verbs — what most textbooks call reflexive verbs. The idea is simple: the action comes back to you. Laver is to wash (a car, a plate); se laver is to wash yourself. Since your morning routine is a list of things you do to yourself, almost all of it is reflexive.
The se is not decoration — it changes with the subject, and you must never drop it:
- je me réveille — I wake up
- tu te réveilles — you wake up
- il / elle se réveille — he / she wakes up
- nous nous réveillons — we wake up
- vous vous réveillez — you wake up (formal / plural)
- ils / elles se réveillent — they wake up
Before a vowel the pronoun shrinks: je m'habille, tu t'habilles, il s'habille. That is why the infinitive is written s'habiller and not se habiller.
Se réveiller or se lever? They are not the same
English blurs these two; French keeps them apart. Se réveiller is the moment your eyes open. Se lever is the moment your feet hit the floor. So a very French sentence is: Je me réveille à 6h, mais je me lève à 6h30. — I wake up at 6, but I get up at 6:30.
Watch the accent on se lever: je me lève, tu te lèves, il se lève, but nous nous levons, vous vous levez. The è appears whenever the ending is silent — it is there to keep the sound.
The mistake almost every learner makes
In English you brush your teeth. In French you do not. Because me already says the teeth are yours, the body part takes a simple les:
- ✅ Je me brosse les dents. — I brush my teeth.
- ❌ Je brosse mes dents. — sounds like you are brushing someone else's teeth on a shelf.
- ✅ Je me lave les mains. — I wash my hands.
- ✅ Elle se coiffe les cheveux → in practice just elle se coiffe.
Talking about yesterday morning: the passé composé
This is the second half of the grammar, and it is worth ten minutes now. Every pronominal verb takes être in the past — never avoir — and the participle agrees with the subject:
- Je me suis levé (m.) / je me suis levée (f.) — I got up.
- Tu t'es douché(e) — you showered.
- Elle s'est habillée — she got dressed.
- Nous nous sommes réveillés — we woke up.
One exception worth knowing: when a body part follows, the participle stays flat — elle s'est brossé les dents, no extra e, because les dents comes after the verb.
Your morning, in French
Now put the ten verbs into one paragraph. This is exactly the kind of answer a DELF A1–A2 examiner asks for when they say "Décrivez votre routine du matin."
Je me réveille à sept heures. Je me lève tout de suite, puis je me douche et je me brosse les dents. Je me rase, je m'habille et je me coiffe rapidement. Je prends mon café en écoutant la radio, et à huit heures je pars au travail.
Notice the last two: prendre son café and partir au travail are not reflexive — nothing is done to you, so no se. And son café becomes mon café when you talk about yourself.
Useful time words to go with them
- d'abord — first
- ensuite / puis — then
- après — after
- enfin — finally
- tous les jours — every day
- tôt / tard — early / late
Practise them out loud
Vocabulary sticks when you say it, not when you read it. Play the video again, repeat each verb after me, then describe your own morning out loud from memory — with je, then again with il, then again in the past. If you want real feedback on those se forms, I teach one-to-one online and you can book a free 30-minute trial lesson. You can also see how I work as a French tutor in Bangkok & online, or keep building your basics with the days of the week in French and body parts in French.