I've just started learning French on my own and as part of my studies I watched this enjoyable little film. I couldn't help wondering about the title, though, as it uses the singular article 'de' with the plural noun 'cons'. Shouldn't it be called 'Le dîner des cons' instead? Is there perhaps some grammatical exception or wordplay involved that's going past my head?
shareNo particular wordplay or grammatical exception. It's just a more informal way to put it. Of course, the logical and correct article is "des".
shareSo, that explains it, thanks!
share[deleted]
Was going through the comments here for 'Dîner de cons'—I just saw this wonderful little comédie—and thought I'd explain this one one should someone, at some point in time, find it useful.
"Des", of course, represents "de les", or "of the" (plural); however, in this case, you're not referring to specific cons. In much the same way you wouldn't say, "Dinner of the Idiots" (unless you were referring to specific 'idiots'), you wouldn't say Le dîner des cons. So as phoenix714 mentioned, it doesn't have to do with formality; it's a question of specificity.
If you were to say, "A list of actors", you wouldn't translate that as "Une liste des acteurs"; it would be "une liste d'acteurs". However, if you were to say, "A list of the countries of the world", that would be "Une liste des pays du monde".
Excellent film, btw :)
that makes sense.
today's special: shrimp ceviche!
No-the article is correct. The literal translation is ‘The Dinner of Idiots’ (a euphemism-the word ‘con’ is rather more blue)-you wouldn’t pluralize 'Un troupeau de vaches’ (a herd of cows), would you?..The phrase is using the word dîner as a collective noun, but it is singular.
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe...
In this case, "de" is not a singular article, it is what we call a "préposition" used to indicate an undetermined number as in "une collection de timbres" or "une bande de jeunes".
Bon courage pour ton apprentissage du français !