Alternative spellings for Fête des mères

Scout E.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Alternative spellings for Fête des mères

I translated 'Mother's Day' as 'fête des Mères'  which Kwiziq dinged as a mistake. 

The 2013 Compact Oxford Hachette French Dictionary uses the translation 'fête des Mères' (p  719).

I read that there can be much variety in how such events are spelled. 

Could it simply be that the spelling l used is not yet known by AI Kwiziq? 

Thank you

Asked 1 year ago
CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Scout,

You are correct that "fête des Mères" is a correct alternative. As Maarten pointed out as well, you can have either "fête des Mères" or "fête de mères". We've now added this option to the possible answers.

The rule is usually that "fête" doesn't have a capital "f" while the "specific" noun does (the same applies with "jour de + [Noun]):

la fête des Mères Mother's Day

la fête des Pères = Father's Day

le jour de l'An New Year's Day

However, for local celebrations, you tend to include the capital letter only for "fête":

la Fête du cidre the Cider Festival

la Fête de la choucroute = the Sauerkraut Festival

 

I hope this is helpful.

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Links from 2 different French internet sites - 1 with "fête des Mères" (almost every time), and the other preferring "fête des mères" (on a quick scan, the latter seems more prevalent however).

https://www.capital.fr/conso/fete-des-meres-date-et-origine-1467094

https://www.rtl.fr/actu/debats-societe/fete-des-meres-d-ou-vient-cette-tradition-de-celebrer-les-mamans-7900270172#

Alternative spellings for Fête des mères

I translated 'Mother's Day' as 'fête des Mères'  which Kwiziq dinged as a mistake. 

The 2013 Compact Oxford Hachette French Dictionary uses the translation 'fête des Mères' (p  719).

I read that there can be much variety in how such events are spelled. 

Could it simply be that the spelling l used is not yet known by AI Kwiziq? 

Thank you

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