Taking Responsibility With Pronominal Verbs
공개
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2026년 11월 4일
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Voca 카드를 2개 이상 추가하면 듣고 복습하기와 오디오 연습을 사용할 수 있어요。
Step into a French workplace where a team coordinates a project from initial briefing to final delivery. You will hear coworkers on a first-name basis using tu and addressing their supervisor with vous.
- se charger de for taking a task onto your own shoulders
- s'engager à for making firm commitments and pledges
- s'assurer de for checking and verifying details yourself
- se permettre de for politely taking the initiative—or calling out someone who oversteps
- se contenter de for keeping things simple or doing only the bare minimum
Pay attention to how the reflexive pronoun changes the everyday meaning of the base verb, and notice whether each verb links to the next action with de or à.
Voca 카드
1.
se charger de prévenir quelqu'un
to take care of letting someone know, to handle notifying someone
La réunion est avancée à dix heures, je me charge de prévenir Thomas.
The meeting has been moved up to ten o'clock, so I'll take care of letting Thomas know.
While 'charger quelqu'un de' means to assign a task to someone else, 'se charger de' means to take responsibility for doing it yourself.
2.
se charger de l'organisation
to handle the arrangements, to take care of the organization
Si tu prépares les documents, Léa, je me charge de l'organisation sur place.
If you get the documents ready, Léa, I'll handle the arrangements on-site.
Followed by a noun, 'se charger de' means taking full ownership of managing that area.
3.
s'assurer de bien comprendre
to make sure one fully understands, to make sure of understanding properly
Avant de commencer, je voulais m'assurer de bien comprendre vos attentes.
Before we start, I wanted to make sure I fully understand your expectations.
'Assurer' means to insure or to reassure someone, whereas 's'assurer de' means to verify or make sure of something for yourself.
4.
se permettre de poser une question
to take the liberty of asking a question, to venture to ask a question
Excusez-moi, Madame Laurent, je me permets de vous poser une question sur le budget.
Excuse me, Ms. Laurent, if I may, I'd like to ask you a question about the budget.
Literally 'to allow oneself to', 'se permettre de' is the standard polite formula for taking the initiative with a supervisor or client.
5.
se permettre de contacter quelqu'un
to take the liberty of contacting someone, to take the liberty of reaching out to someone
Je me suis permis de vous contacter directement pour gagner du temps.
I took the liberty of contacting you directly to save time.
In the 'passé composé', the participle 'permis' never changes when followed by an infinitive, because the reflexive pronoun means 'to oneself'.
6.
s'engager à respecter un accord
to commit to honoring an agreement, to undertake to abide by an agreement
Dès qu'on signe, on s'engage à respecter cet accord jusqu'à la fin de l'année.
As soon as we sign, we commit to honoring this agreement until the end of the year.
'Engager' alone means to hire or to start; 's'engager à' expresses a firm, binding commitment to do something.
7.
s'engager à livrer à temps
to commit to delivering on time
Avec l'aide de Marc, nous nous engageons à livrer le projet à temps.
With Marc's help, we commit to delivering the project on time.
8.
se charger de rédiger quelque chose
to take care of drafting something, to handle writing something up
Tu as déjà beaucoup de dossiers, alors je vais me charger de rédiger le compte rendu.
You already have a lot on your plate, so I'll take care of writing up the report.
9.
s'assurer du bon déroulement
to make sure everything goes smoothly, to ensure the smooth running
Mon rôle aujourd'hui, c'est surtout de m'assurer du bon déroulement des opérations.
My role today is mainly to make sure operations run smoothly.
Before the masculine noun 'le déroulement', the preposition 'de' contracts with 'le' to form 'du'.
10.
s'assurer d'avoir tout le nécessaire
to make sure to have everything needed
Assure-toi d'avoir tout le nécessaire avant l'arrivée des clients, Julie.
Make sure you have everything you need before the clients arrive, Julie.
11.
se permettre d'insister
to take the liberty of insisting, to venture to stress a point
Je me permets d'insister sur ce point, Monsieur Moreau, parce que l'échéance approche.
Allow me to insist on this point, Mr. Moreau, because the deadline is approaching.
Used in the first person, 'je me permets d'insister' softens the pushiness of pressing someone for an answer.
12.
se permettre de relancer quelqu'un
to take the liberty of following up with someone
Comme nous n'avions pas de nouvelles, je me suis permis de vous relancer.
Since we hadn't heard back, I took the liberty of following up with you.
'Relancer quelqu'un' is the everyday workplace verb for following up when someone has not replied yet.
13.
se contenter de faire le nécessaire
to just do what is necessary, to stick to doing what is needed
Ne passe pas trois heures sur ce tableau, Thomas, contente-toi de faire le nécessaire.
Don't spend three hours on this spreadsheet, Thomas—just do what's needed.
'Contenter' means to satisfy someone; 'se contenter de' means to limit yourself to a certain action without doing more.
14.
se contenter du strict minimum
to do just the bare minimum, to settle for the bare minimum
Sur ce dossier, j'ai l'impression que le prestataire se contente du strict minimum.
On this project, I feel like the contractor is just doing the bare minimum.
Depending on the context, 'se contenter de' can be practical advice to keep things simple or a criticism for doing too little.
15.
se contenter de répondre
to stick to answering, to limit oneself to answering
Pour l'instant, on va se contenter de répondre aux questions techniques, sans parler des tarifs.
For now, we're just going to stick to answering the technical questions, without bringing up pricing
16.
se permettre de critiquer
to have the nerve to criticize, to dare to criticize
Comment est-ce qu'il peut se permettre de critiquer notre travail alors qu'il n'était même pas là ?
How does he have the nerve to criticize our work when he wasn't even there?
While 'je me permets de' is polite, using 'se permettre de' about someone else often criticizes them for overstepping their place.
17.
se permettre de donner son avis
to venture to give one's opinion, to take the liberty of sharing one's opinion
Si je peux me permettre de donner mon avis, votre présentation gagnerait à être un peu plus courte.
If I may offer my opinion, your presentation would benefit from being a bit shorter.
'Si je peux me permettre' is a classic conversational opener for offering constructive feedback to a superior.
18.
s'assurer de ne rien oublier
to make sure not to forget anything, to make sure nothing is left out
Relisons la liste ensemble, Léa, pour nous assurer de ne rien oublier.
Let's read through the list together, Léa, to make sure we don't forget anything.
With an infinitive, both parts of the negation ('ne rien', 'ne pas') go directly in front of the verb.
19.
s'engager à trouver une solution
to commit to finding a solution, to promise to find a solution
Il y a un léger retard informatique, mais je m'engage à vous trouver une solution d'ici ce soir.
There's a slight IT delay, but I commit to finding you a solution by tonight.
20.
s'engager à rembourser les frais
to commit to reimbursing expenses, to agree to cover the costs
La direction s'est engagée à rembourser les frais de déplacement dès la semaine prochaine.
Management has committed to reimbursing travel expenses starting next week.
Here 'se' is a direct object, so the past participle 'engagée' agrees with the feminine subject 'la direction'.
21.
se charger du suivi
to handle the follow-up, to take care of following up
Maintenant que le projet est lancé, c'est toi qui te charges du suivi avec le client, Marc ?
Now that the project is underway, are you handling the follow-up with the client, Marc?
22.
se contenter d'un accord de principe
to settle for an agreement in principle, to make do with an agreement in principle
En attendant le contrat définitif, pouvons-nous nous contenter d'un accord de principe ?
While we wait for the final contract, can we settle for an agreement in principle?