Today we’ll look at a highly interesting reflexive verb: Se vanter, meaning “to brag” and “to boast”. Keep reading as we’ll introduce the really fun noun m’as-tu-vu (show-off, poser) at the bottom of the page.
se vanter
to brag, to boast
Se vanter – to brag, to boast in French
Word origin
The French verb vanter (to praise, to extole) comes from the Latin vānĭtās, which means emptiness, untruthfulness, empty pride.
Vanter in French is related to “vanity” in English, which the Oxford dictionary defines as having a high opinion of oneself, being self-conceited and having the desire for admiration.
Present tense conjugation
Se vanter (to brag, to boast) is a reflexive verb. These are the “to myself verbs”. This lesson on our site explains how reflexive verbs work. Vanter is a regular ER verb. This means that its endings are the same as all other regular ER verbs when conjugated in the present tense.
Je me vante I brag (or boast)
Tu te vantes You brag (singular, informal)
Il, elle se vante He, she brags
Nous nous vantons We brag
Vous vous vantez You brag (plural, formal)
Ils, elles se vantent They brag
Example sentences
Sophie n’est pas du tout humble, elle se vante tout le temps.
Sophie isn’t humble at all. She brags all the time.
This next sentence uses the verb essayer (to try), which we covered in this lesson. The feminine noun réussite means accomplishment or achievement and is related to the verb réussir (to succeed).
J’essaie de ne pas trop me vanter de mes réussites.
I try to not brag too much about my accomplishments.
In this next sentence, the verb vanter becomes and adjective vantard(e), meaning boastful. Vantard can also be a noun for bragger or braggart. Bagnole is a slang word for car which we cover in this lesson.
Marc est un mec très vantard. Il adore frimer dans sa nouvelle bagnole.
Marc is a very boastful guy. He loves showing off in his new car.
This final example sentence uses the really fun noun m’as-tu-vu, which means “show-off” or “poser”. It’s based off the phrase “Est-ce que tu m’as vu?” (did you see me).
Le musicien est un vrai m’as-tu-vu mais en réalite il ne joue pas très bien.
The musician is a real show-of but in reality doesn’t play very well.
Conclusion
Et voilà ! You now know how to use the French verb se vanter. Now check out our lesson covering another useful and fun French verb bosser (to work, work hard).
