French Expression of the Day: Se prendre un vent

Why do I need to know se prendre un vent?

Because everyone experiences rejection from time to time.

What does it mean?

Se prendre un vent - roughly pronounced suh prahn-druh uhn vahn - directly translates as ‘to take a wind’.

It does not have anything to do with the weather in a literal sense. In practice, se prendre un vent  means to be ignored or to get no response from the person you are trying to communicate with - similar to the English expression ‘talking to a brick wall’ or ‘to be blanked’.

Se prendre un vent originally comes from the dating world - it creates an unforgettable image of a person being rejected after trying to kiss someone. The idea is that one person leans in, but the other turns away, creating a bit of wind between the two.

While the phrase is most common when talking about romantic rejection, it can be used in other settings too - for example, if you try to ask a store clerk a question and they ignore you, you could say je me suis pris un vent.

This expression is quite colloquial, and used primarily amongst young people and in informal situations. If you want a more formal option, you could use the verb ignoré.

There are plenty of other French expressions related to wind. You may have also heard c’est du vent, which is the French way of saying “it’s just hot air” or “it’s a load of nonsense” to dismiss what someone is saying.

Use it like this

J'ai demandé à ma camarade de classe si elle voulait déjeuner ensemble, mais je me suis pris un vent. Je suppose que je mangerai seule. - I asked my classmate if she wanted to eat lunch together, but she ignored me. I guess I’ll eat alone.

J’avais un date ce soir, mais c’était plutôt mal passé. Je me suis pris un vent à la fin. - I had a date tonight, but it went pretty poorly. I was rejected at the end.