FR: faire un tour / faire (un) demi-tour

[LMorland]

Bonsoir !

My husband just asked me why there is an indefinite article in the first expression -- faire un tour -- but not in the second: faire demi-tour.

I thought about it, and I had no good response, except that perhaps demi-tour is a fixed expression, like rendez-vous (which also does not take an article). However, that's not a sufficient explanation. Can someone explain it to me (us)?

Merci beaucoup d'avance !

 

[mnewcomb71]

Pour moi, c'est plutôt une question de ce que ces deux phrases veulent dire:

Faire un tour = to go around, to take a tour
Faire demi-tour = to turn around.

 

[LMorland]

Faire un tour = to go around, to take a tour
Faire demi-tour = to turn around.

Yes, but why don't the French say faire un demi-tour?

That's why I put this query in this Forum, because it's not a question of translation, but of grammar.

 

[geostan]

Bonsoir !

My husband just asked me why there is a definite article in the first expression -- faire un tour -- but not in the second: faire demi-tour.

I thought about it, and I had no good response, except that perhaps demi-tour is a fixed expression, like rendez-vous (which also does not take a definite article). However, that's not a sufficient explanation.

I think it is a sufficient explanation. Not all questions can be answered from a linguistic point of view.

Thus one says: faire un tour, faire le tour du monde.

But: faire demi-tour

It might have something to do with the military use of the term which does not use an article. But that is mere conjecture.

Demi-tour! (About face!)

 

[Maître Capello]

There is no article in faire demi-tour because it is just an idiomatic phrase. Moreover, in some contexts, it is definitely possible to have one (faire un demi-tour).

P.S.: In faire un tour, the article is not definite but indefinite.

 

[geostan]

Moreover, in some contexts, it is definitely possible to have one (faire un demi-tour).

Could you provide an example or two?

 

[Maître Capello]

Il fit (un) demi-tour en donnant un grand coup de volant.
Il fit (un) demi-tour sur la gauche.
Il fit un brusque demi-tour. / Il fit brusquement demi-tour.
Il fit un demi-tour de vis.