OffQc | Quebec French Guide

Olivier is a teenager in the TV series Les Parent. He asks his parents for money a lot. Of course, they never give it to him, but he still asks.

In one episode, Olivier asks his mother for $20 like this:

Est-ce que tu me passerais vingt piasses?

Maybe you’ll remember that the vowel sound made by the letter a in the verb passer is â (aww).

In another episode, Olivier asks his father for $20. But this time, he asks for it like this:

Tu me passerais-tu vingt piasses?

Both questions mean the same thing, and both belong to conversational Quebec French.

Do you remember that -tu is sometimes used to ask a yes-no question in French?

Tu me passerais-tu vingt piasses?
Tu me passerais-[oui ou non] vingt piasses?

The -tu in bold doesn’t mean “you” like the first tu that begins the question. (Another example: C’est-tu correct? = Est-ce que c’est correct?)

You’ll often hear tu me said in one syllable instead of two. The vowel sound of me can drop, leaving only tu m’ said like one word:

Tu m’passerais-tu vingt piasses?

Maybe you’ll also remember that tu sounds like tsu in Quebec French:

Tsu m’passerais-tsu vingt piasses?

Of course, the spelling tsu doesn’t exist. Tu is always spelled tu.

Remember, you can always ask yes-no questions with est-ce que. Don’t go thinking that it’s not used in Quebec French because that would be untrue. But you will hear the form with -tu used as well, so listen for examples of it so that you can learn to understand it.

[Both quotes from Les Parent. First quote from "Accident de parcours," season 4, episode 16, Radio-Canada, Montreal, 13 February 2012. Second quote from "L'empire contre-attaque," season 4, episode 17, Radio-Canada, Montreal, 20 February 2012.]

In the Émissions section of 98,5 fm, you can listen to past segments that were aired live. Click on Émissions, pick a show, and then listen to the segments that are available.

You can go farther back into the archives by picking a date under the image of the speaker.

As an example, Benoît Dutrizac spoke with Réjean Thomas about the use of condoms in pornographic films. I’ve typed a short excerpt below, and a list of vocabulary from the conversation. You can listen to the entire segment online.

– Le 5 mars prochain, il y a une nouvelle loi en Californie qui va obliger les acteurs porno de porter le condom, et ça ne fait pas l’affaire de l’industrie de la pornographie. Avec nous, le médecin spécialiste du SIDA et président fondateur de la Clinique l’Actuel, de Montréal, le docteur Réjean Thomas. Monsieur Thomas, bonjour.

– Bonjour Benoît.

– Ça a l’air d’une… ça a l’air d’une niaiserie, ça a l’air d’un prétexte pour parler des films de cul, Réjean… mais sérieusement, d’abord, l’impact de la pornographie dans la vie des gens au quotidien, il est réel.

– Ah oui, absolument. La majorité des jeunes… des jeunes hommes en tout cas, leur vie sexuelle est remplie de pornographie…

[98,5 fm, Dutrizac, « PORNO : Certains producteurs de films refusent de se soumettre à une loi obligeant les acteurs du XXX à porter un condom », Montréal, 21 février 2012]

porter le condom, to wear a condom
un acteur porno, a porn actor
ça ne fait pas l’affaire de…, it doesn’t suit…
ça a l’air d’une niaiserie mais…, it seems ridiculous but…
ça a l’air d’un prétexte pour…, it seems like an excuse to…
un film de cul, a porn film

Some vocab from the rest of interview:
contracter le VIH; une maladie transmise sexuellement (une MTS); en bas de 30 ans; maintenir l’érection; garder leur érection avec le condom; prendre des risques; dire non quand ça nous tente pas; un lieu de tournage

In a scene from 30 vies, Vincent is at home.

Karine calls him by phone. She wants to know if she should pick him up by car so that they can both go to work together.

Vincent’s phone rings, and they have this short conversation:

V — Allô?
K — Je te ramasse?
V — T’es où, là?
K — Pas loin.
V — Oui, viens-t’en.

V — Hello?
K — You want me to pick you up?
V — Where are ya?
K — Not far.
V — Yes, come.

Viens-t’en means “come.” The opposite is va-t’en, “go away.”

[Dialogue from 30 vies, season 2, episode 82, Radio-Canada, Montreal, 14 February 2012.]

In entry #427, you read that letter a doesn’t make the same sound in these two words: ta classe. It sounds like “tah clawss.” The vowel sound made by the letter a in classe is â (“aww”).

Here are 5 words heard on 98,5 fm pronounced with the â sound. The underlined a below makes the â sound.

1. la base
2. ramasser
3. dépasser
4. carrément
5. le miracle

The letter d in the words doux and dire doesn’t sound the same. Dire gets pronounced with a dz sound. (Review why here.) Here are 5 five words from 98,5 fm that were pronounced with the dz sound:

1. rendu
2. vous dites
3. incendie
4. durant
5. dix-neuf

In the winter issue of Urbania (#32), people were asked who they thought would make the ideal lesbian couple. (This issue was devoted to the theme of lesbians, which explains the question.)

Some people matched singers together, others matched actors…

One woman answered the question by saying that she’s not going to start matching others when she’s got enough trouble matching herself:

Je commencerai pas à matcher les autres alors que j’ai déjà assez de misère à me matcher moi-même!

Misère in this quote doesn’t mean misery. (Well, literally it does.) It just means difficulty. Avoir de la misère à faire quelque chose means to have trouble doing something.

If you hear a person talking about having misery, it doesn’t mean that she’s depressed necessarily.

[The quote above appeared in the Vox Pop section of the magazine Urbania, by Joanie Guérin, hiver 2012, numéro 32, Montréal, p. 6.]