donner raison

Here's a sentence from "Le Monde" that I found merely as an example of "passionner" so I don't know the context of the sentence:

"Contrairement à ce qu' on aurait pu imaginer, le fait que le sujet ne semble pas passionner les foules pourrait leur donner raison."

Is "raison" being used as "correct" in which case, I'm thinking the translation is "contrary to what one would think/expect/imagine, the fact that the subject doesn't seem to arouse the crowds could prove/confirm their point"

or is "raison" being used as "reason" in which case the sentence I think would translate as "contrary to what one would think/expect/imagine, the fact that the subject doesn't seem to arouse the crowds could give them reason, be the reason

merci d'avance

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on October 17, 2013 at 10:44pm

I always thought "leur donner raison " meant "prove their point" ,"support their case" as you have suggested in your first version.

Is your second suggestion a translation for "pourrait leur donner une raison." ?

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Permalink Reply by alan gould on October 17, 2013 at 11:26pm

thanks, as always, for your reply. i looked up "donner raison" but couldn't find an example. so, i don't know what the sentence means. but since you are familiar with the expression, then my first example is what it means. i was curious to know how they would say "give them a reason" and it seems you're saying that "pourrait leur donner une raison" is how that would be expressed.