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What does j’es aime mean? How is Pie-IX pronounced? 6+ things to learn in...
1. A reader of OffQc tells me that he overheard someone say what sounded like jézaime. He was happy when he realised that he had understood what this meant: je les aime. It was pronounced informally as...
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Review how -tu is used to ask yes-no questions in spoken Québécois French (#703)
You’ll hear yes-no questions asked frequently with -tu, so it’s a good idea to devote time to understanding how they work. You don’t ever have to ask yes-no questions with -tu yourself. You can always...
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A look at some colloquial French from a telephone conversation in Montréal...
Just another stock photo. I have no idea who this guy is. Here’s some everyday French to learn taken from a conversation that a guy in his 30s in Montréal had with a co-worker on the phone. We can tell...
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3 examples of French said by exasperated STM employees (#705)
The STM is Montréal’s public transportation provider (bus and métro). In French, the name is feminine: la STM. Here are 3 things for you to learn in French that I’ve heard said by ruffled STM employees...
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New example of overheard French: tanné de t’ça (#706)
Carrot slop again? Pffffff… chu tanné de ça. In Montréal today, a woman in her 60s said: Je suis tannée, je suis tannée de t’ça. I’m fed up, I’m fed up with it. What’s de t’ça? It’s an informal...
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6 useful things to learn in French from a text message exchange (#707)
Zak When you were a kid, were you ever embarrassed to be seen in public with your parents? Les Parent is a comical television show from Québec revolving around the day-to-day experiences of a family of...
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SlutWalk — and the meaning of the Québécois word “guidoune” (#708)
On the OffQc Facebook page, I asked recently what Québécois French word you had trouble understanding. Andrew said the word guidoune. In Québécois French, une guidoune refers to a promiscuous woman....
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Québécois expressions to learn from a man talking about computer trouble (#709)
In a conversation last week, a man in his 50s talked about his computer troubles and that he eventually got the blue screen. Here’s just a little of what he said: Je pèse su’l'piton une coup’ de fois…...
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3 usages to understand from québécois folk music: pis, moé, toé (#710)
Mes Aïeux (click on the image to go to the official site) On the OffQc Facebook page, Ken asked about a few pronunciations he heard in a modern folk song called Dégénérations by the group Mes Aïeux. In...
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How you might hear the “oi” sound pronounced in Québec (#711)
Who you callin’ a pwèsson? Angela asks about how she heard words containing oi pronounced in folk music, like the word soir. Read this text: Ce soir on va boire, moi et toi! On va manger des poires, et...
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More French to learn from a text message exchange (#712)
In the Parent family, there are three sons. The youngest one is Zak, the middle one is Oli, and the oldest one is Thomas. In this text message exchange, Oli steals Zak’s phone and sends messages to his...
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What does “drette” mean in the French of Québec? (#713)
In entry #710 about the pronunciations pis, moé, and toé, I put up an example that happened to use the word drette in it: Tantôt, j’étais au Subway, pis y’a un monsieur qui s’est étouffé avec son 6...
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Can you identify the 2 québécois usages in this ad? (#714)
This ad comes from a website where job offers are posted: jobgo.ca. I first came across this ad in the métro in Montréal (but I borrowed the image above from their website). Magasiner : 6 heures...
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6 things to learn in French from a letter by Rabii Rammal (#715)
Click on the image to read Rabii’s letter. Remember Rabii Rammal? He’s the guy who wrote comical blog posts in the form of open letters, like the one about someone who wanted to park in a spot for...
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5 reprimands in French from a mother scolding her boy on the métro (#716)
Agis comme un grand garçon! When a mother boarded the métro in Montréal yesterday with her two boys, I got to listen in as she scolded her youngest boy for his unruly behaviour. First, the boy climbed...
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Does using the inversion to ask questions in French always sound formal? (#717)
To invert, or not to invert, that is the question. Did you learn that questions using the inversion automatically sound more formal in French? This isn’t always the case in the French of Québec. In...
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What on earth does “t’as-tu” mean in the French of Québec? (#718)
In the last entry (#717), there was an example of a yes-no question using the inverted form as-tu: As-tu mal à la tête? Do you have a headache? Even though this question uses the inversion, it still...
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Asking someone’s age in French in a way that sounds natural (#719)
We’ve been looking at questions that use as-tu and t’as lately, so let’s continue with another one that you’ll find useful: T’as quel âge? How old are you? Maybe you’ve learned to ask this question as...
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Crack, pot, prostitutes: Toronto knows how to party! (#720)
Click on Mado’s lovely hair to sashay away to her articles on Fugues Not only does Montréal’s most famous drag queen have eyelashes to die for, she also has a column. Mado Lamotte’s articles appear...
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11 useful expressions in French related to behaving on public transport (#721)
The STM has posted new rules in the métro in an attempt to get us barbarians to behave like civilised human beings when using public transport. Some rules tell us what to do (green), whereas others...
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