FR: (la/une) vedette de la musique pop Britney Spears - article

R

ruddyfaced

Senior Member
USA, English
Hi, I know it is tricky to know when to place an article before a profession.

Here is the passage I wrote:
Par exemple, vedette de la musique pop Britney Spears a écrit trois livres. Rappeur Eminem a écrit un livre. Dave Bautista, catcheur professionnel et « champion actuel du monde des poids-lourds » selon l'organisation WWE, vient d'écrire un livre qui était publié par Simon & Schuster, un des quatre maisons d'édition du langage anglais les plus grandes.

Is this ok or should it be la vedette de la musique pop Britney Spears... ? or maybe une vedette ...

Thank you!
 
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    Victor Hugo, le/un célèbre poète, ... (the alternative is the same as in English)
    Victor Hugo, célèbre poète, ... (commas, no article, this is more literary and could be translated : Victor Hugo, who was a famous poet, ...)
     
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    Pifnane - I would also think "Victor Hugo, the celebrated poet, ..." would work well as an equivalent. The "the" is used as Victor Hugo should be famous enough, being celebrated, that the definite article can apply.

    Further to the main thread question re article, is there a reason for the translation of vedette as "flagship" having no indication of gender? Would this also be used without article?
     
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    Could someone please tell me for what reason the definite article is needed here?
    What would be the difference between
    la vedette de la musique pop Britney Spears a écrit trois livres.
    and
    une vedette de la musique pop Britney Spears a écrit trois livres.

    Tom
     
    well, you couldn't say "une vedette de la musique pop Britney Spears a écrit trois livres". You really need comas. Without them it would make no sense to speak about any famous pop singer and to name her at he same time. But with comas this becomes possible, and the sentence may take a different meaning, based on which part comes first (the first part is then the subject, the other part gives a precision on this subject if it lacks any).

    Here are correct sentences in french, I hope I can explain their differences in english :

    1) "la vedette de la musique pop Britney Spears a écrit trois livres."
    = Famous pop singer Britney Spears has written 3 books.

    2) "la vedette de la musique pop, Britney Spears, a écrit trois livres."
    = The unique famous pop singer (aka Britney Spears) has written 3 books.

    3) "Britney Spears, une vedette de la musique pop, a écrit trois livres."
    = Britney Spears (PS : she's a famous pop singer) has written 3 books.

    4) "une vedette de la musique pop, Britney Spears, a écrit trois livres."
    = There's one famous pop singer who has written 3 books (PS : I'm speaking of Britney Spears).
     
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    Thanks, I have an additional question. What's the difference between 1 and 4 then?

    PS: I think that the first sentence in English needs an article so perhaps that's the seed of confusion, you can write in French if that's not a problem, I can ameliorate mine at a time. :)
     
    well, you would use "la vedette de la musique pop Britney Spears a écrit trois livres" to inform about Britney Spears in a newspaper, for example.

    if you say "une vedette de la musique pop, Britney Spears, a écrit trois livres" I assume you're in a debate about whether pop singers know how to write, for example, and you just stated in their favor that you know of at least one (Britney Spears) who wrote 3 books.

    hope this helps ;)
     
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