OffQc | Quebec French Guide

Two common ways of talking about missing someone in French are with the verbs:

• manquer (à quelqu’un)
• s’ennuyer (de quelqu’un)

For example, “I miss you”:

• Tu me manques.
• Je m’ennuie de toi.

With manquer, the person missed becomes the subject. With s’ennuyer, the person doing the missing is the subject.

In the very first episode of a series called Les hauts et les bas de Sophie Paquin (currently available on tou.tv), we hear a female character use the expression s’ennuyer de quelqu’un:

Sa soeur s’ennuie beaucoup beaucoup beaucoup de lui.
His sister misses him very very very much.

If you have trouble using these expressions, you could maybe just remember for now tu me manques and je m’ennuie de toi as models of use.

Remember: je te manque doesn’t mean “I miss you,” it means “you miss me” (or more literally, “I am missing to you”). With manquer, “I miss you” is tu me manques (or more literally, “you are missing to me”).

[Quote from Les hauts et les bas de Sophie Paquin, "La tornade," season 1, episode 1, Radio-Canada, Montreal, 19 September 2006.]

Oli, the middle child in the TV series Les Parent, breaks the bad news to his father that he’s failed his exam at school. When his father gets upset, Oli defends himself by bad-mouthing his teacher:

C’est un vrai malade!
He’s really crazy!

Informally, Oli pronounced c’est un as c’t'un, as though it were one word.

In addition to meaning “ill” in the physical sense (like when you have a cold), malade can also take on the meaning of “crazy” during more informal conversations:

T’es malade ou quoi?!
Are you crazy or what?!

[Quote said by Oli in Les Parent,"Question existentielle," season 4, episode 18, Radio-Canada, Montreal, 27 February 2012.]

In a scene from the TV series 30 vies, two teachers are talking to each other in the staff room of the school where they work. The two teachers are Vincent and Ariane.

During their conversation, Vincent gets a little frustrated with Ariane. Ariane notices that Vincent is annoyed, and she tells him to not get angry:

Fâche-toi pas!
Don’t get angry (calm down)!

This is an informal way of saying ne te fâche pas. You can hear fâche-toi pas between people who are on familiar terms with each other.

While on the topic of anger, you might also like to learn the following expression:

M’en veux-tu?
Are you angry with me? Are you mad at me?

This is what a male character asks Ariane in this same episode because he believes that she’s upset with him. He also asks her:

T’es fâchée?

T’es is an informal way of pronouncing tu es. It sounds like té.

[All quotes from 30 vies, season 2, episode 118, Radio-Canada, Montreal, 17 April 2012.]

The first sign displays the cost per month for a plan associated with un téléphone intelligent.

The calls are les appels, the text messages are les textos and the data usage is les données.

In the second sign, pedestrians are informed that the sidewalk is closed, or barré, and that they should walk on the other side of the street.

You can also use the adjective barré to describe a door. Une porte barrée is a locked door. Barrer la porte means “to lock the door.”

The third image shows a fire hose, un boyau d’incendie.

Similarly, a hose used for watering is un boyau d’arrosage.

When the context is clear, you’ll also simply hear un boyau, a hose.

You can click on all of the images to see a larger version.

As I was browsing through the latest issue of the magazine Urbania (#33), I was reminded of the slogan used by Buckley’s. This is the medicine that uses as its selling point that their cough syrup tastes awful and it works.

In French, the Buckley’s slogan is:

Ça goûte mauvais et ça marche.

If you’ve read entry #463, you’ll remember the expressions goûter mauvais (to taste bad) and goûter bon (to taste good).

In issue #33 of Urbania, an article appeared about the slow disappearance of winter in Quebec.

The article listed the top 50 things that would be missed in the absence of the hiver québécois. Listed as #26 was the Buckley’s mixture and its slogan. Listed as #46 was:

Le gravier épandu sur les trottoirs qu’on retrouve dans le bol du chien et dans le fond du lit.

The abrasives that are used in the streets in the winter find their way into the entire house. If you’re walking around barefoot, it’s no fun when you step on a small, sharp piece and spend the rest of the evening trying to remove it from your foot!

[Second quote by Marie-Andrée Labbé in "Le dégel en 50 étapes faciles," Urbania, numéro 33, printemps 2012, Montréal, p. 35.]

From an ad in the street:

La gomme qui goûte la crème glacée

“The gum that tastes like ice cream.”

Here, goûter (quelque chose) is used in the sense of “to taste like (something).”

The OQLF provides some more examples of this use, such as:

Désolé, ça goûte un peu le brûlé, j’ai oublié le poulet au four.

“Sorry, it tastes a bit burnt, I left the chicken in the oven (too long).”

If something tastes good or tastes bad, you might hear the expressions goûter bon and goûter mauvais, such as ce café goûte mauvais.

An interesting video from Urbania:
Bonnie : profil de dumpster-diveuse

Bonnie has made Montreal her home. I’ll let you listen for where she says that she’s from originally.

In this video, Bonnie talks about “dumpster diving,” or recuperating edible food that has been thrown into bins by stores.