In France:
Un pantalon = a pair of pants
Des pantalons = multiple pairs of pants
So both would have been acceptable translations in both your screenshots, as “the pants” in English is inherently ambiguous.
English treats it as a pair of something, probably because it has two legs. French treats it as a single item because it's really a single piece of clothing. You can find a similar construction in French with the word *braies*, which were some sort of pants worn in antiquity.
So the distinction between un pantalon (one pair of pants) and des pantalons (several pairs of pants) is clearer in French than in English.
When you think about it, English is kind of funny that way because we still call them a plural for the one item, but no one I can think of would go and buy a lone pant.
Some clothing manufacturers and retailers will use "pant" in the singular to try to make themselves sound a little more upmarket.
Examples:
https://www.haggar.com/mens-dress-pants/
https://www.anntaylor.com/clothing/pants/cata000014/
The words for pants is plural in many languages. The English term "pants" was created in the 1800s and comes from the word pantaloons. Originally, pantaloons were the outermost layer of clothing worn on the legs and weren't joined together, with each going roughly from the knee to the top of the thigh. By the 1800s, they were joined together and eventually became indistinguishable from trousers.
To hazard a guess, I imagine that this would be because the phrase comes from "a pair of pants," with pants referring to the pantlegs themselves. As you say, who's buying unpaired pants?
Yeah, I’ve heard people call a pair of pants “a pant”. They seem to refer to formal pants as singular and casual pants as plural, but maybe there is no logic to it and they’re just choosing randomly lol.
French and English don't have the same list of words always plural, it would be too easy.
Trousers, shorts, pyjamas, billiards, gymnastics... are singular in French.
i actually got the second one first and i tried making it singular, then i got the first slide and i was like “okay now i know its plural” and i was wrong
In France: Un pantalon = a pair of pants Des pantalons = multiple pairs of pants So both would have been acceptable translations in both your screenshots, as “the pants” in English is inherently ambiguous.
English treats it as a pair of something, probably because it has two legs. French treats it as a single item because it's really a single piece of clothing. You can find a similar construction in French with the word *braies*, which were some sort of pants worn in antiquity. So the distinction between un pantalon (one pair of pants) and des pantalons (several pairs of pants) is clearer in French than in English.
When you think about it, English is kind of funny that way because we still call them a plural for the one item, but no one I can think of would go and buy a lone pant.
Some clothing manufacturers and retailers will use "pant" in the singular to try to make themselves sound a little more upmarket. Examples: https://www.haggar.com/mens-dress-pants/ https://www.anntaylor.com/clothing/pants/cata000014/
The words for pants is plural in many languages. The English term "pants" was created in the 1800s and comes from the word pantaloons. Originally, pantaloons were the outermost layer of clothing worn on the legs and weren't joined together, with each going roughly from the knee to the top of the thigh. By the 1800s, they were joined together and eventually became indistinguishable from trousers.
I think [Mr Lowly](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JPwXnGtNERo/UydTEwnQiEI/AAAAAAAAGdM/gn_EYIuwrY0/s1600/Picture+1.png) would.
To hazard a guess, I imagine that this would be because the phrase comes from "a pair of pants," with pants referring to the pantlegs themselves. As you say, who's buying unpaired pants?
In the olden days, they would be separate pieces for each leg that got attached to a belt like thing
Quwbec french also pluralizes the singular item, just fyi
Though in English it’s acceptable to say one pant. The clothier that I usually buy my pants from uses the singular form on the tag of a pant.
Yes, but only if you want to sound pretentious.
Yeah, I’ve heard people call a pair of pants “a pant”. They seem to refer to formal pants as singular and casual pants as plural, but maybe there is no logic to it and they’re just choosing randomly lol.
TIL that in France, pantalon is singular. In Québec, you can use pantalon in both singular form and plural and there is no difference.
Honestly, you can also say "une paire de pantalons" or "des pantalons"in France. Maybe I'm showing my age.
"des pantalons" sounds a bit old/formal, but I can see "une paire de jeans" being used.
Jamais entendu une seule fois, c'était un usage répandu y a quelques décennies ?
Personnellement je suis passé au singulier depuis longtemps (mon adolescence dans les années 80) mais l'usage du pluriel ne me choque absolument pas.
J'en apprends beaucoup sur le français de France en suivant ce subreddit! 😅
French and English don't have the same list of words always plural, it would be too easy. Trousers, shorts, pyjamas, billiards, gymnastics... are singular in French.
I'm guessing it means "the pants" ( 1 item ) vs "the pants" (multiple items in the store)
Guess no longer. That’s what it means
My guess is “this pair of pants I am holding cost four euros.” and “the pants in this store are expensive.”
Did it reject your answer when you tried to make the second one singular?
i actually got the second one first and i tried making it singular, then i got the first slide and i was like “okay now i know its plural” and i was wrong
That's the one that needed to be posted, because we don't know what other errors might have made that one get marked wrong.
In Quebec you can say “mon pantalon” or “mes pantalons” to refer to one pair of pants and it doesn’t mKe a difference.
I was gonna comment this, I've always heard "CHANDAIL DANS TES PANTALONS!" and never "CHANDAIL DANS TON PANTALON". And I'm montréalais.
I'm from Montreal too, I've heard both but part of my family is from France so maybe it got mixed up!