De trop

Essential French Expression


	Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

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.

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

	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

	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.

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.