se réveiller
To wake in French is se réveiller.
The verb se réveiller is used when referring to the act of stopping sleep or opening one's eyes. If you wish to refer to a 'period after death', the noun veillée funèbre is used and if you are referring to the 'path left behind a ship on the surface of the water', use the noun sillage.
Meaning: to stop sleeping (verb)
What does it mean word for word?
The verb se réveiller is reflexive, meaning it literally translates to 'to wake oneself up'.
Which one should you use?
Use se réveiller for the act of opening one's eyes and stopping sleep, but use se lever for the physical act of getting out of bed. If you are waking someone else up rather than yourself, use the non-reflexive form réveiller.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The verb se réveiller is reflexive. To wake someone else up, use the non-reflexive form réveiller. Additionally, the past participle réveillé can be used as an adjective to describe someone who is awake.
Did you know?
- While English uses 'wake' for a funeral vigil, French uses the noun veillée. This word comes from veiller, which means 'to stay awake' or 'to keep watch' rather than the act of stopping sleep.
- The prefix 'r-' in réveiller is a fossilized remnant of the Old French 'resveillier', which stems from the Latin 'revigilare'.
- While se réveiller means to wake up, the word éveil refers to a spiritual or intellectual awakening. It is often used to describe a child's early cognitive development or a sudden realization.
Examples in context
- Yanni a commencé à se réveiller.Yanni started to wake up.This sentence shows how to use se réveiller to say someone started to wake up.Tatoeba #11756931 by Amastan, translation #9961753 by Amastan
- Michael aussi a commencé à se réveiller.Michael started to wake up, too.Tatoeba #11756985 by Amastan, translation #11590507 by Amastan
- Mère est la première à se réveiller le matin.Mother is the first to wake up in the morning.This sentence shows how to use se réveiller to describe someone being the first to wake up in the morning.Tatoeba #4218264 by sacredceltic, translation #4193803 by tinowls
- Tu devrais te lever maintenant.You should get up now.
- 14 more sentences on Tatoeba
Sources
- Wiktionary, “wake” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries réveiller, se, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
