Question 1

Why is de repeated before laque instead of just saying de shampoing et laque?

Accepted Answer

In French, the prepositions à, de, and en must be repeated before every item in a series. Since the sentence uses the expression à force de, that de applies to both items and therefore must be placed before both shampoing and laque.

Question 2

What does à force de mean, and why are there no articles before shampoing and laque?

Accepted Answer

À force de translates to 'by dint of', 'by means of', or 'from so much'. It is often followed directly by a noun without an article (like le or la) when referring to a general substance or concept, rather than specific, measurable items.

Question 3

Why does the French use the plural ces cheveux when the English translation says singular 'this wavy hair'?

Accepted Answer

In English, head hair is a singular uncountable noun, but in French, un cheveu is just a single strand. To talk about a person's entire head of hair, French always uses the countable plural les cheveux. As a result, the demonstrative adjective becomes the plural ces, and the adjectives ondulés and secs must also take a plural -s.

Question 4

Why is the adjective secs used here instead of sèches?

Accepted Answer

Because the noun cheveu is masculine. Since we are describing a plural masculine noun, we use the masculine plural adjective secs (the singular is sec). The form sèches is the feminine plural, which would only be used to describe feminine nouns.

À force de shampoing et de laque, ces cheveux ondulés sont très secs.

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