You can’t pass for a native without mastering the québécois verb niaiser!
You’ve seen this verb before in “Everything you ever wanted to know about the québécois verb niaiser.” Here are some new examples for review. Using the phonetic alphabet, niaiser is pronounced [njɛze], which sounds like nyèzé.
1. Je te niaise pas, je te parle sérieusement.
This is taken from an interview by Les Francs Tireurs. It means: “I’m not kidding you. I’m being serious.” We can tell that the person was speaking informally because, instead of je ne te niaise pas, he left out ne and said je te niaise pas.
In fact, what he most likely said was j’te niaise pas, which sounds like ch’te niaise pas. When je and te come together, they often contract and the j makes a ch sound.
The same goes for the je te combination je te parle sérieusement, which you may hear pronounced as j’te (ch’te) parle sérieusement.
2. Arrête de me niaiser là, c’est pas drôle!
This means: “Stop messing with me, it’s not funny!” It comes from a book called Fais-moi confiance by Andréanne Parenteau.
This example also includes the famous québécois là, which you can explore in “Everything you ever wanted to know about the québécois use of là.”
3. Niaise pas avec les gars en uniforme!
This example comes from a blog. It means “Don’t mess with guys in uniforms!” Remember, the letters rs in gars aren’t pronounced, so gars sounds like gâ.
This is also an example of dropping ne in an informal style because the author wrote niaise pas instead of ne niaise pas.
4. J’ai niaisé pendant deux mois.
This example comes from a comment left online. In full, the commenter wrote: J’ai niaisé pendant deux mois et demi avant de me trouver une job, “I did absolutely nothing for two and a half months before I found a job.” In this example, niaiser is used in the sense of goofing around, doing nothing.
During conversations, you’ll hear job in the feminine in Québec: une job.
5. Ils m’ont fait niaiser trois semaines pour rien! Câlisse.
This example comes from an online forum. It means: “They made me wait three weeks for nothing! Fuck.” Here, faire niaiser is used in the sense of making someone wait. This example also includes câlisse, which equates to saying “fuck” in Québec. You can also now review the expression je m’en câlisse.
