commit oneself to: s'avancer v. s'engager

I looked up "s'avancer" and saw it used as "to commit onself" to something. I then looked up "to commit oneself" (to something) and it had "s'engager" but not "s'avancer." I assume "s'engager" is preferred. Is "s'avancer" rarely used this way?

merci d'avance

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Permalink Reply by Charles D on November 6, 2013 at 10:33pm

And my dictionary has s'avancer meaning "to move forward", "to advance", "to progress" and s'engager meaning "to undertake." In the English to French part of my dictionary "to commit" is not defined by either of these words (rather by commettre, confier, and s'compromettre), but I would assume s'engager to be closer to the meaning you are looking for--especially since I see that "commitment" is indicated as engangement.

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Permalink Reply by Vedas on November 6, 2013 at 10:39pm

Hello,

there is a nuance between the two expressions: both means to commit oneself but "s'avancer" suggests that maybe I shouldn't have/ maybe I went to far / I exaggerated, I anticipated things without being cautious/ not thoughtfully and I may change my mind now.

whereas when you say "s'engager" nobody is going to expect you to change your mind.

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Permalink Reply by alan gould on November 7, 2013 at 12:25am

thanks, Vedas. Actually, the examples given for both words were "I don't want to commit myself" in which case, the reluctance expressed in your definition of "s'avancer" is present before the verb so there really wouldn't be any need for nuance. I will use "s'engager" to say "I don't want to ...." and I imagine this is more common since "engager" is a more common verb. But is it still common to hear "Je ne veux pas m'avancer" in this context?

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Permalink Reply by Vedas on November 7, 2013 at 8:50am

Yes definitly it's very common, here are some examples from the dictionnary "Hachette/ Oxford""

-je me suis un peu avancé en te promettant le dossier pour demain: I shouldn't have committed myself by promising you I'd have the file ready for tomorrow

- en disant cela je m'avance peut-être un peu trop: maybe I am exaggerating a bit in saying that;

- il s'est avancé jusqu'à dire que he went as far as to say that

-je ne peux pas m'avancer sans connaître la question: I can't commit myself without knowing more about it /I don't know enough about it to venture/ hazard an opinion

s'avancer: to venture/ to hazard/ make a bold hypothesis/ to commit oneself / without caution/ hastily