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What does the word DINS mean in French? (#1083)

31 January 2016 by OffQc

A little while ago, Joyce requested we look at lyrics by Bernard Adamus. So far, we’ve looked at the wording donne-moi-z-en here, and an informal pronunciation of the subject pronoun elle here, both of which were taken from his lyrics.

Let’s look at something new from him:

un vingt dins poches

This is taken from his song Donne-moi-z’en. What does dins mean?

First, dins is pronounced as if it were written dain in French. It rhymes with the French words bain and main. In other words, the ins of dins is the nasalised in sound.

Dins is in fact a contraction. It’s a contraction of dans + les.

un vingt dins poches
= un vingt dans les poches

a twenty(-dollar bill) in her pocket (literally, a twenty in the pockets)

In another song by Bernard Adamus (Arrange-toi avec ça), he uses:

dins chars
dins parcs
dins rues

These mean in the cars, in the parks, in the streets. Dans les chars, dans les parcs, dans les rues.

What if the word after dins begins with a vowel?

dins années 50

In this case, the liaison is heard. The s transfers to the beginning of the next word. So that last example sounds like:

dins z’années 50

The s on the end of dins comes from the s of les. In its uncontracted form, the s of les would also be transferred:

dans les z’années 50

Dins is a spoken, informal usage.

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Posted in Entries #1051-1100 | Tagged Bernard Adamus, dans les, dins, dins chars, dins parcs, dins poches, dins rues, français québécois, Québécois French | 2 Comments

2 Responses

  1. on 1 February 2016 at 21:09 Jude

    Once again, thank you so much! It amazes me that I use these words in conversation, but I don’t believe I’ve ever written them. So NOW, you’re teaching me to spell! At my age! Thank you!


    • on 2 February 2016 at 16:59 OffQc

      In informal writing, you might see “dins” or “din” or other variations on this, or even just “dans les” with no attempt to render the spoken pronunciation. There’s no standardised spelling of this contraction because its use is almost entirely limited to spoken language.



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