se réveiller
The English phrase 'wake up' is translated into French as se réveiller.
se réveiller is used to describe the act of becoming conscious or opening one's eyes.
Meaning: to (become) awake (verb)
Which one should you use?
It is important to distinguish se réveiller from se lever. The former refers to the moment you wake up, while the latter means to physically get out of bed.
How does it change in a sentence?
As a reflexive verb, se réveiller is used when you wake yourself up. If you are waking someone else up, you use the transitive form réveiller by dropping the reflexive pronoun. Additionally, the past participle réveillé can function as an adjective to describe a person who is currently awake.
Did you know?
- While se réveiller is for waking up, French uses faire la grasse matinée to describe the act of sleeping in late.
- In French, the phrase réveil-matin refers to the alarm clock itself, treating the device as a 'morning awakener'.
- The term éveil is also used in French to describe a 'nursery' or 'early childhood awakening' in educational contexts.
Examples in context
- Yanni a commencé à se réveiller.Yanni started to wake up.This sentence shows the use of se réveiller to describe a starting action.Tatoeba #11756931 by Amastan, translation #9961753 by Amastan
- Michael aussi a commencé à se réveiller.Michael started to wake up, too.This sentence shows how to express that someone else also started to wake up using se réveiller.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 demonstrates using se réveiller to describe a morning routine.Tatoeba #4218264 by sacredceltic, translation #4193803 by tinowls
- Pierre se réveille tous les matins à sept heures.Pierre wakes up every morning at seven o'clock.
- Les enfants sont réveillés depuis une heure.The children have been awake for an hour.
- Tu te réveilles toujours en retard le week-end.You always wake up late on weekends.
- Les chiens sont réveillés depuis un moment.The dogs have been awake for a while.
- Ma sœur se réveille tard le week-end.My sister wakes up late on weekends.
- Il faut que je me réveille maintenant !I need to wake up now!
- Elle doit se lever de bonne heure demain.She has to wake up early tomorrow.
- Je me réveille toujours très tôt le lundi.I always wake up very early on Mondays.
- 14 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Hugo and Emma are talking about their morning routines.
- HugoÀ quelle heure tu aimes se réveiller ?What time do you like to wake up?
- EmmaJe préfère me réveiller vers huit heures.I prefer to wake up around eight o'clock.
- HugoC'est tard ! Je dois me réveiller à six heures.That's late! I have to wake up at six o'clock.
- EmmaTu as raison, se réveiller tôt est difficile.You are right, waking up early is difficult.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “wake up” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
