The â sound is one of the most distinctive features of the québécois accent.
You can always identify a French speaker from Québec by listening for the â sound!
The sound made by â in Québec sounds something like “aww” to an English speaker.
To hear â pronounced, listen to Ricardo pronounce carré, or hear Martin Matte pronounce câline and passait. All three of these words use the â sound.
The â sound occurs in words written with the accented â (like âge and fâché), but it can occur in certain words written with an unaccented letter a too (like tasse and case).
When the word is written with the accented â, there’s little doubt — say aww! But when it’s written with an unaccented letter a, it isn’t as obvious if it takes the â sound. That said, you may begin to notice some patterns.
To help you out a bit, below are 50 words taking the â sound in Québec but all written with an unaccented letter a. I’ve underlined the letter a in each word that makes the â sound.
This list isn’t exhaustive, it’s just a list of 50 words that I felt were useful.
- amasser
- barrage
- barreau
- barrer
- barrière
- bas
- base
- baser
- basse
- brassage
- brasser
- brasserie
- carré
- carreau
- carrément
- cas
- case
- casier
- casse-croûte
- casser
- chat
- classe
- classement
- classer
- classeur
- dépasser
- entasser
- espace
- gars
- gaz
- gazer
- gazeux
- jaser
- jasette
- matelas
- paille
- pas
- passage
- passager
- passe
- passeport
- passer
- ramassage
- ramasser
- rasage
- raser
- surpasser
- tas
- tasse
- tasser
Remember, the letters rs in gars aren’t pronounced. This word sounds like gâ. The final s in bas, cas, matelas, pas, tas is silent. These words sound like bâ, câ, matlâ, pâ, tâ.