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.
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.
Bonjour! My name is David Issokson. I'm based in Victor, Idaho and have helped hundreds of students to learn French via Skype or Zoom since 2014. 
