The French expression “trois pelés et un tondu” translates literally to “three bald men and one man with a shaven head”. This is a prime example of a French idiom that has a meaning that’s impossible to figure out. Here are several English meanings:
- hardly anyone
- one man and his dog
Expressio.fr offers a useful meaning in French: Very few people; a disappointment in the number of people in attendance compared to the expected number. A French-to-French meaning is “quasiment personne”, when means almost nobody.
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Here’s an example sentence:
- J’ai assisté à une soirée hier mais il n’y avait que trois pelés et un tondu. I attended a party yesterday but there was hardly anyone there.
If you've found this post useful you might want to considering looking at our post covering the best apps for learning French. We've looked a total 33 apps and have written comprehensive reviews of Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur and FrenchPod101.
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Bonjour! My name is David Issokson. I'm based in Victor, Idaho (near Jackson, Wyoming) and have helped hundreds of students to learn French online since 2013.
