• 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.]

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.]

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 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.

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.]

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.

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.

Ironically, just as the cold weather is ending, issue number 33 is devoted to the theme hiver québécois.

But as the authors of the magazine explain on page 2, to be authentic, it was important that the writers prepare this issue during the winter months, avec une pelle dans la main et les deux bottes dans la neige, and then release it in the spring.

On page 9, we read an interesting fact in the section L’hiver en chiffres:

27 100 : Nombre de Québécois qui se blessent chaque année en pelletant ou en soufflant leur neige. [...]

27 100, that’s the number of Québécois who injure themselves every year by shovelling their snow or using a snow blower.

In entry #383, you read about the verb pelleter (to shovel). Remember, it’s pronounced pelter.

pelleter la neige, to shovel the snow
pelleter les marches, to shovel the steps
pelleter l’entrée, to shovel the driveway

And souffler la neige, that’s to clean the snow away like this, with a snow blower (une souffleuse).

[Quote from "L'hiver en chiffres," Urbania, printemps 2012, numéro 33, Montréal, p. 9.]

Sébastien tells Pénélope and us the viewers that he began to take drugs, il a commencé à consommer, around age eleven.

Sébastien was a tough kid, un p’tit tough, and a follower, un suiveux. Other people around him were doing coke, ils faisaient de la coke, so he did too.

Pénélope tells us that Sébastien had trouble with la coke, le pot, la bière and le speed.

This year Sébastien is celebrating his three years of abstinence, il célèbre ses trois ans d’abstinence. But, as Pénélope explains, it’s also three years without any really big high, trois ans d’abstinence de gros high.

So Pénélope helps him to celebrate his three years by giving him une dose naturelle d’adrénaline — by encouraging him to go parachuting, sauter en parachute.

The rest of the segment is dedicated to Sébastien’s jump. As Pénélope explains, to jump out of a plane is to experience a natural high, vivre un high naturel.

[Vocabulary from Ici et maintenant, season 1, episode 6, Radio-Canada, Montreal, 18 February 2012.]

Pénélope gives Alexia the chance to work with comedians François Massicotte and Geneviève Gagnon to write a sketch (écrire un sketch) and to present it on stage in front of an audience. Alexia nervously accepts.

Alexia admits that she’s never had the guts to become a comedian. She tells the host Pénélope that it takes guts to become one: ça prend du guts.

Alexia finally meets comedian Geneviève Gagnon to work on a sketch with her. Geneviève tells Alexia just how great the experience of writing a sketch and presenting it will be for her (and everybody involved):

Tu vas capoter, là! On va tripper, là!

Roughly, capoter in this context is to be ecstatic with happiness, and tripper is to have a whole lot of fun. Geneviève is telling Alexia that she’s going to be overcome with emotion and that they’re going to have a lot of fun during the whole experience.

[Quote from Ici et maintenant, season 1, episode 5, Radio-Canada, Montreal, 11 February 2012.]