A few posts ago in #1133, we looked at the word affaires, where it appeared twice in this sentence said by a man in Montréal:
On a pas d’affaires à dire des affaires d’même!
They’ve got no business saying things like that!
They’ve got no right to say stuff like that!
We also saw:
T’as pas d’affaires à dire ça!
You’ve got no business saying that!
You’ve got no right to say that!
Let’s look at another example using affaire, which you’ll want to learn because it’s useful in conversations:
L’affaire, c’est que…
We can translate this as the thing is… This expression can be used to introduce the downside to a situation.
J’comprends, mais l’affaire c’est que…
I understand, but the thing is…
I understand, it’s just that…
L’affaire, c’est que j’ai pas l’goût d’attendre deux semaines.
The thing is I don’t wanna wait two weeks.
It’s just that I don’t feel like waiting two weeks.
The expression avoir le goût de means to want (to). When you say the contracted j’ai pas l’goût (with ne omitted because this is colloquial language) say it in three syllables: j’ai / pas l’ / goût. The second syllable pas l’ sounds as though pas ends with an L.
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Refresh your French or get caught up: The OffQc book 1000 Québécois French is a condensed version of all the language that appeared in the first 1000 posts on OffQc. You can buy and download it here.
