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What do the Québécois call clothes hangers in French? (#965)
As I paid for a pair of shirts in a clothing shop, the cashier asked me if I’d like to keep the clothes hangers that each shirt was hanging on. Can you guess how she asked the question “Do you want to...
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Understand AVOIR LE GOÛT and TENTER as used in Québécois French (#966)
In the OffQc Québécois French guide called 1000, example sentence #991 reads: J’ai pas l’goût d’en parler. I don’t wanna talk about it. I don’t feel like talking about it. You can see the full page...
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How might someone say “I’m on break” in French? (#967)
Another example of French overheard in Montréal today; someone said in French the equivalent of “I’m on break” (as in a break at work). Do you know how the person might have said this informally in...
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Test your knowledge of colloquial Québécois French: 5 questions (#968)
Can you say the five English sentences below in an informal style of French? Say your answer aloud, applying whatever informal contractions are possible. In the answers below, I’ve given both an...
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A look at the expression Y’A-TU MOYEN DE…? heard in Québécois French (#969)
I thought it would be useful to take another look at how il y a transforms in colloquial language to y’a, and to y’a-tu when used as part of a yes-no question. It’s a frequently occurring feature, so...
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Pas l’temps d’niaiser! Listen to a video promoting winter in Québec to...
I found this video from QuébecOriginal (Tourisme Québec) promoting winter in Québec. In it, you’ll hear a few Québécois usages that we’ve looked at on OffQc. This video was made to promote Québec to...
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Understand the expression SE CALMER LE POMPON heard in Québécois French (#971)
In the QuébecOriginal video from #970, we heard the speaker say on se calme le pompon! The expression is se calmer le pompon. (The video is below if you want to listen again. The speaker’s words have...
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Tuque, chandail, combine, mitaines, bas! Hear more Québécois usages in this...
Found another good clip from QuébecOriginal promoting winter to European visitors. (We saw the first one here.) As usual, the French text is below the clip, followed by a translation into English and...
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More examples of overheard French from Montréal (#973)
Here are a few more examples of French overheard in Montréal today, and that I’ve managed to remember long enough to create a new post! :-D Y’a-tu une caisse pop? Is there a (Desjardins) credit union...
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Hear 3 different aspects of French pronunciation with this video showing a...
Here’s an excellent video where Pénélope McQuade speaks slowly. She talks about a teacher she once had and why she appreciates her. Apart from all the vocab, three interesting things to listen for: 1....
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Listen to a challenging video in French with a Québécoise comedian who talks...
MONTRÉAL, JE SUIS LÀ!!! Here’s a challenging video with lots of informal language featuring a comedian from Québec called Korine Côté. This video is part of a series in which Québécois personalities...
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Experiment: Do strangers use TU or VOUS in Montréal when addressing someone...
Perhaps you’ll find the question in the title bizarre because you learned that strangers always use vous when speaking to each other, and so the answer should be a given. But if I’m addressing it here,...
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How to ask “where are you?” and “are you there?” in colloquial French (#977)
Here’s a very short video from the SAAQ (Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec) warning of the dangers of sending textos au volant, text messages while driving. (Le volant is the steering...
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Listen to a short video in French where the speaker talks about the...
In this short clip, Liza Frulla talks about how the contraceptive pill represented the ultimate method of liberation for women. This video is a clip from 75e, elles se souviennent. La pilule, ç’a été...
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What does ÇA ME TENTE mean? 3 new Québécois videos in French with...
Here are 3 more videos from the SAAQ (Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec). Don’t worry, there aren’t any violent surprise car accidents at the end of these ones. :-) All 3 videos will be...
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What does it mean if you’ve got LE DOS BARRÉ? (#980)
It’s winter, and Natalie and Louis (from the television show Les Parent) exchange text messages about the salt that was *supposed* to have been put down by their son Zak to prevent someone from...
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French vocabulary and pronunciation notes related to 5 photos taken in...
Here are 5 photos I found lurking on my phone waiting to be commented and put on OffQc! You can click on all the images for the large version. 1. Dans les allées, utilisez un panier Literally, this...
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EXPERT LEVEL! Test your knowledge of Québécois French and Montréal (#982)
All I’ll say is GOOD LUCK. 1. If you add together the individual numbers in Montréal’s iconic telephone area code and then multiply that sum by the total number of STM métro stations, what is the...
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Contraction of LUI in conversational French + yes, the answers to yesterday’s...
Oh all right, I’m not that cruel… :) Here are the answers to the Québécois French and Montréal quiz from #982, with a short explanation as to why each answer is the correct one. If you click on the...
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10+ contractions to know in colloquial Québécois French (#984)
In the videos I’ve posted to OffQc lately, quite a few informal contractions have come up. It’s imperative to learn these contractions to understand spoken French. I’ve pulled together a list of these...
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