Question 1

Why is the verb conjugated as vantons after qui?

Accepted Answer

In a cleft sentence structure like c'est nous qui..., the relative pronoun qui takes on the person and number of the pronoun it refers to. Since qui refers back to nous, the verb must be conjugated in the first-person plural.

Question 2

The verb is se vanter (a reflexive verb), so why isn't it qui nous nous vantons?

Accepted Answer

In the standard phrase nous nous vantons, the first nous is the subject and the second is the reflexive pronoun. Here, the relative pronoun qui replaces the subject nous. The reflexive pronoun nous stays right before the verb, giving us qui nous vantons.

Question 3

Why is it d'avoir installé instead of a conjugated past tense?

Accepted Answer

The verb se vanter requires the preposition de (to boast about something). In French, prepositions are followed by a verb in the infinitive. To show that the action happened in the past, we use the past infinitive, which is made of the infinitive avoir plus the past participle installé.

Question 4

Could we use que instead of qui here (C'est nous que...)?

Accepted Answer

No, you must use qui because it acts as the subject doing the action of the following verb (vantons). You only use que in cleft sentences when the emphasized word is the direct object of the following verb.

C'est nous qui nous vantons d'avoir installé ce lampion.

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