Breakdown of Cette comédie manque du suspense dont le public a envie.
ce
this (before a noun)
le public
the audience, public
avoir envie de
to feel like, to want
dont
whose / about which / of which
la comédie
the comedy
manquer de
to lack
le suspense
the suspense
Questions & Answers about Cette comédie manque du suspense dont le public a envie.
Why do we use dont here instead of que for "that"?
If dont replaces de, why does the first half of the sentence use du?
The du belongs to a completely different verb! The verb for "to lack" is manquer de. Because the sentence is talking about the specific suspense the audience wants, it uses the definite article le. The preposition de (from manquer) plus le contracts into du.
What would this look like as two separate simple sentences?
Is it possible to drop dont like we drop "that" in English?
No. In English, we can often skip the connecting word and just say "the suspense the audience wants." In French, you can never drop the relative pronoun. You must always include dont (or qui, que, etc., depending on the sentence structure).
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