Breakdown of Sans cette viande tendre, ce plat manquerait de ce dont on rêve.
on
one / we (informal)
sans
without
ce
this (before a noun)
la viande
the meat
le plat
the dish
rêver de
to dream of
manquer de
to lack
ce dont
what / that which (of which)
tendre
tender
Questions & Answers about Sans cette viande tendre, ce plat manquerait de ce dont on rêve.
How does sans cette viande tendre trigger the conditional tense?
In this sentence, sans cette viande tendre (without this tender meat) acts as an implicit condition. It replaces a full si (if) clause, such as si ce plat n'avait pas cette viande tendre (if this dish didn't have this tender meat). Because it sets up a hypothetical scenario, the main verb manquerait must be in the conditional tense.
Why is it manquerait de instead of just manquerait?
Why use ce dont here instead of ce que to mean "what"?
The choice of the relative pronoun depends on the verb that follows it. The verb rêver (to dream) requires the preposition de (rêver de quelque chose). Whenever a verb takes de, you must use dont instead of que to say "that" or "which". Combined with ce, ce dont essentially translates to "that of which".
Doesn't dont already stand in for de? Why is there another de right before ce dont?
Good catch! It's true that dont replaces a de phrase, but that satisfies the second verb (rêver de). The de right before ce belongs to the first verb (manquer de). The dish lacks something (manquer de ce...), and that something is what we dream of (...dont on rêve). Both verbs must have their grammatical rules satisfied independently.
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