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Other ways to say PRENDRE UNE MARCHE in French (#925)
In #922, the expression prendre une marche came up, which is a calque of the English expression to take a walk. A reader asked what expressions could be used in place of prendre une marche. It’s good...
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Where do the pronunciations CHU and CHUI come from? (#926)
We’ve seen that je suis can contract in informal language to what sounds like chu or chui. But where does that ch sound come from in chu and chui, considering there isn’t any ch sound in je suis to...
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How are GAGNER and GAGNE pronounced in Québécois French? (#927)
In his article on Urbania entitled Le Canadien, la société pis moi, Kéven Breton writes: Parce que quand le Canadien gagne, je me réjouis, je high-five à qui mieux mieux. Je saute, je suis bien. Je...
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A use of the French verb PARTIR you might be unfamiliar with (#928)
The verb partir is sometimes used in the sense of to start (something) in the French of Québec. The Usito dictionary gives these examples: partir une mode partir une tendance partir une discussion...
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3 expressions using the French word PLEIN (#929)
Overheard on the radio, a speaker who said: C’t’en plein ça! That’s right! Exactly! Spot on! En plein ça means tout à fait ça. C’est en plein ça qui s’en vient. That’s exactly what’s on the way. C’est...
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What does EN EST** mean in this headline? (#930)
Any idea what en est** in the headline above is? (It’s from TVA Nouvelles on 29 January 2014.) Let’s back up first in the headline to look at on s’est payé la traite. We saw this expression a few days...
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Overheard French in Montréal: dans’ rue + tout mon stock (#931)
Overheard: A woman in her late 20s in Montréal lamented to a friend about her personal situation. With the way things were going, the woman said she’d probably end up in the street with all her stuff....
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6 random examples of usage in French (#932)
Just some random stuff to learn or review today… 1. Tant qu’à moi, c’est pas nécessaire. In my opinion, it’s not necessary. Tant qu’à moi is often used in conversations in the same sense as quant à...
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J’trouve ça un p’tit peu frette! (#933)
Heard on the radio: the informal frette for froid. The radio host said a guy who’d called into the show told him he’d finally taken his motorbike out for the first time this year: sortir sa moto, to...
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What does the Québécois expression PASSER AU CASH mean? (#934)
In his latest article, Rabii Rammal writes about his mother who lived through the war. The bomb warnings that would drop from the sky (and facetiously paraphrased here by Rabii) used to read: « Salut,...
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Short on top, long in the back, horrible all over (#935)
Yup, it’s the coupe Longueuil. You know — the mullet, also known as hockey hair. I saw the ad above in a newspaper. It’s from a paint store, and it’s encouraging people to refresh their...
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J’capote avec ça ben raide! (#936)
In a conversation, a guy said j’capote avec ça ben raide. When someone says j’capote, you can be sure that person has lost their calm. What you need the context to tell you though is if the person has...
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Quiz: Test your Québécois French! (#937)
Here’s your chance to test how well you remember the language from recent entries. Find the right French equivalent to the English sentence in bold. There’s only one correct answer. Be careful — the...
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How are the months JUIN and AOÛT pronounced? (#938)
The name of the sixth month — juin — came up in a conversation, and I remembered that the usual pronunciation of this word doesn’t match its spelling. It’s possible to pronounce juin exactly as...
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ÉCŒURER and SE FAIRE ÉCŒURER — what do they mean as used in Québécois French?...
Écœurer (pronounced ékeuré, ekœʀe) doesn’t always mean to disgust. There are times when it can be used in the sense of to pick on. On this page from the Sûreté du Québec, we read about bullying at...
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Ben gros! (#940)
A fun expression I think you’ll like to add to your knowledge is ben gros. J’t’aime ben gros! I love you a whole lot! J’aime ben gros ça! I like that a whole lot! Ben gros is an informal intensifier....
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Jouer dans la bouette (#941)
A word that hasn’t come up yet on OffQc… la bouette mud Your dictionary will tell you that mud is la boue, but you’ll also hear la bouette in Québec. If someone had muddy boots on, you could describe...
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Hey, what do you think of my egoportrait? (#942)
I came across an example of the word égoportrait in use in the Montréal edition of the Métro newspaper. Égoportrait, you’ll remember, is an OQLF-approved word meant to replace the English-derived...
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Two meanings of the Québécois word GRATTEUX (#943)
We’ve seen before that un gratteux is a scratch-and-win lottery ticket (the ones where you scratch with your finger or a coin to reveal a prize… or not). But gratteux can also be used as an adjective,...
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Announcement: 5 winners of the new OffQc guide (#944)
The new OffQc guide with 1000 examples of use (plus notes for each example) is almost ready to go online. As promised, I drew 5 winners from among the people who bought C’est what? or Say it in French....
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