I was out with my camera when I came across a squat in an alley.
One of the squatters had spray painted je mange d’in vidanges on a wall.
je mange = I eat
d’in = dans les = in the
vidanges = garbage
Je mange d’in vidanges.
Je mange dans les vidanges.
I eat in the garbage, but better worded as:
I eat from the garbage.
In another entry on OffQc, we saw examples of how vidanges is used in the sense of garbage in Québec.
In this sense, vidanges is used in the plural: les vidanges. We’ll forgive the person who spray painted the singular vidange. He ran out of wall. There was no room for the s.
When dans + les come together, it sometimes contracts to form what sounds like dain (rhymes with main and hein). In the image, we see the spelling d’in.
It’s certainly not necessary for you to say d’in instead of dans les. Just make a mental note of this pronunciation for the times when you happen to hear it.
