In entry #595, I posted a video where comedian Jean-François Mercier pokes fun at smokers by professing his love for his anti-nicotine attack dog Roxie.
Let’s look at two parts of that video, where Mercier uses language you might find difficult. I’ve reposted the video below for convenience, but you can return to the original entry for the transcription and translation into English.
1. Mercier says:
[...] tu comprends pas pourquoi qu’y'a des gens qui fument.
This means: tu ne comprends pas pourquoi il y a des gens qui fument.
Instead of il y a, Mercier pronounces this informally as y’a. This occurs very frequently in spoken French.
He also stuck in que after pourquoi. You don’t need to adopt this yourself, just recognise that sometimes you’ll hear it.
He also left out ne in his sentence, using only pas to negate. This happens very frequently in spoken French.
2. Mercier says:
[...] à cause que t’es-t-un chien.
This means: parce que tu es un chien.
À cause que means the same thing as parce que. The use of à cause que has fallen out of use elsewhere in the francophonie but you can still hear it in spoken French in Québec. It’s not used in formal language. On the other hand, parce que can be heard at all levels of language, and Mercier does in fact also say parce que in the video.
Rather than tu es, Mercier says t’es. This occurs very frequently in spoken French. You’ll also hear him say t’aurais instead of tu aurais, t’étais instead of tu étais, and t’as instead of tu as.
Mercier also slipped in a -t- liaison between es and un (t’es-t-un chien). You don’t need to adopt this feature, just recognise it.
