De trop

Essential French Expression

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Meaning	too much, too many; unwanted
Register	normal
Pronunciation		[deu troh]
IPA		[də tʀo]

Usage notes: The French expression de trop means "too much" or "too many" when it follows a noun or verb.

Par exemple…

Tu as une valise de trop.		You have one too many suitcases / one suitcase too many
J’ai acheté deux billets de trop.		I bought two tickets too many.
Il mange de trop quand il est nerveux.		He eats too much when he’s nervous.
Vous vous plaignez de trop.		You complain too much.

  De trop vs trop (de)

These two phrases mean more or less the same thing, but they are different grammatically.

1) With nouns – de trop vs trop de

		De trop		Trop de
Placement		Follows the noun		Precedes the noun
		dix litres de trop ten liters too many		trop de litres too many liters
Amount		Required		Optional
		une rame de papier de trop one ream of paper too many		trop de papier, trop de rames de papier too much paper, too many reams of paper

2) With verbs – de trop vs trop

		De trop		Trop
Simple conjugation		Follows the verb		Follows the verb
		Tu bois de trop. You drink too much.		Tu bois trop.
Compound conjugation		Follows the past participle		Follows the helping verb
		J’ai bu de trop. I drank too much.		J’ai trop bu.
Dual-verb conjugation		Follows the infinitive		Follows the semi-auxiliary verb
		Je ne veux pas boire de trop. I don’t want to drink too much.		Je ne veux pas trop boire.

Metaphorically speaking

De trop can also have a negative meaning: unwanted, unnecessary, uncalled-for, over the top:

Par exemple…

Elle se sentait de trop.		She felt unwanted.
Cette observation est de trop !		That comment is uncalled-for!

  En anglais

The figurative meaning is also found in English:

Her last party was a bit de trop.

Don’t you think five cars are rather de trop?

Your comment was de trop.

 Related lessons

• Expressions of quantity
• Parts of speech
• Simple vs compound conjugations

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