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Débarre ta ville… and your bike (#659)
In the last post about how to talk about locking up your bike in French, we saw the verb barrer. I was reminded of this verb’s opposite earlier today on the métro, when I spotted a free newspaper...
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A mini-guide to a mega-mystery: How do the Québécois use TU when asking...
I had to do it! A free mini-guide that you can download with lots of examples illustrating how tu is used to ask yes-no questions in French. Using tu to ask questions stumps a lot of learners, so I...
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If you lack the courage to speak in French, here’s why — and what to do about...
If you lack the courage to speak in French, it’s not because your accent is wonky. It’s not because your grammar is off. It’s not because you’re short on vocabulary. When you’re at home speaking in...
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Having trouble speaking French in public? Ask yourself a question (#662)
I have a friend who used to have trouble with French in public places, like in restaurants and shops. People had trouble understanding him when he spoke. He was frustrated and disappointed by this. He...
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How to get past the wall of incomprehensible noise in French (#663)
In 5 solid ways to improve your listening comprehension in French, Ash comments: What I have a particular problem with is that I am totally not at a level where I can begin to understand most of what...
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From picking up dog poo to being tidy around the house: learn all about the...
I saw this sign tied around a tree in Montréal. It reminds people that the street is not a toilet for dogs: Ramassez! Pick it up! Maybe you’ll remember the verb ramasser from the list of 50 French...
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If you want to learn French, don’t do what I did to learn Turkish (#665)
When I lived in Istanbul in 2003, I did everything wrong to learn Turkish. Everything. I took Turkish classes instead of speaking in Turkish with Turkish people. I spoke in English or French with the...
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How can I convince my francophone boyfriend or girlfriend to speak to me in...
If you’ve got a francophone boyfriend or girlfriend who won’t speak to you in French, what can you do to change this? Maybe the two of you have spent a considerable amount of time speaking in a...
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3 random pieces of French to learn (#667)
1. Espace During a conversation, the French word espace came up. Remember, this word is pronounced espâce (a bit like “espawss”), but it’s never written the accented â. 2. Aucune câlisse d’idée! Just...
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D’IN VIDANGES — learn an informal québécois pronunciation from graffiti (#668)
I was out with my camera when I came across a squat in an alley. One of the squatters had spray painted je mange d’in vidanges on a wall. je mange = I eat d’in = dans les = in the vidanges = garbage Je...
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Review a québécois use of the adjectives TANNÉ and GELÉ (#669)
Remember this ad aimed at people with drug addictions? Tanné d’être gelé? Had it with being stoned? Sick of being stoned? Literally, gelé means frozen. That sums up how someone who’s stoned looks....
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10 random observations in French to learn (#670)
On an STM bus, a young man said on débarque ici to a friend sitting beside him, or “let’s get off here.” A friend offered me a diet Pepsi to drink, un Pepsi diète. The Pepsi was in a can, en canette. A...
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Listen to a new video in French including a transcription (#671)
Here’s a new video with the text transcribed in French. I chose this video because it’s related to some of the videos you’ve already listened to about magic tricks in the Listen section. In the video,...
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Learn the expression C’EST PLATE + new video with transcription (#672)
In the video from entry #671 with Marc Trudel, the interviewer uses the québécois expression c’est plate. The interviewer asks Trudel if magicians can reveal how they perform their tricks. Trudel says...
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10 French expressions related to marijuana inspired by Justin Trudeau (#673)
Inspired by Justin Trudeau’s confession that he’s smoked weed, I collected some vocabulary related to marijuana used in québécois media for you to learn. The examples are linked directly to their...
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Does it matter where you live in Montréal to learn French? (#674)
People ask in forums online where to live in Montréal to learn French. It matters little where you live in Montréal. Furthermore, this is the wrong question. The better question to ask is: How will I...
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5 new French expressions from conversations to learn (#675)
1. de quoi tu parles? Confused, a guy asked his friend de quoi tu parles?, or “what are you talking about?” Using the inversion here (de quoi parles-tu?) would sound much less conversational. 2....
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Seen in the MTL métro: dzidzu and tsitsu (#676)
I took this photo in métro Jean-Talon. It’s got dzidzu-tsitsu written all over it… Sortie is pronounced sor-tsi. Côte-Vertu is pronounced côt-ver-tsu. Direction is pronounced dzi-rek-sion. It’s got...
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How to pronounce VOITURE like the Québécois (#677)
In yesterday’s entry about the dzidzu and tsitsu in the métro, Luke wrote in the comment section: Les vélos vont dans la première voi-tsure! In the métro stations, there are adhesive signs on the...
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Random observations in French while sitting in a café (#678)
I’m in a café. There’s free WiFi here, or WiFi gratuit. In Québec, the pronunciation of WiFi follows the English pronunciation. There’s a kid near me reading a Wikipédia article on his laptop about le...
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