OffQc | Québécois French Guide

I first discovered this magnificent image of Montreal here, but it comes to us courtesy of NASA. You can see an enlarged version by clicking on it.

If you’re going to spend time around French speakers in Montreal, it’s a good idea to understand the basics of the region’s geography.

This image is a side view. Roughly speaking, the left side of the image corresponds to the north, and the right side corresponds to the south.

That big mess of yellow in the middle, that’s the île de Montréal, or the Island of Montreal. There are many municipalities sur l’île de Montréal. The Ville de Montréal is just one of them.

The river that flows south of the île de Montréal (to the right of the island in this image) is le fleuve Saint-Laurent. You’ll sometimes hear people refer to it simply as le fleuve.

To the north of the île de Montréal (left of the island in this image) lies another island: île Jésus. The city of Laval is located on this island.

Continuing left, the area north of île Jésus is referred to as la Rive-Nord de Montréal. Although the suburb of Laval isn’t technically part of la Rive-Nord (it’s on an island after all: île Jésus), it’s often associated with la Rive-Nord.

La Rive-Sud de Montréal, on the other hand, lies south of the île de Montréal (to the right of the island in this image). All the suburbs south of the île de Montréal, which includes the city of Longueuil, are sur la Rive-Sud.

There are a few telephone area codes used in the Montreal region, but the two most important ones are 514 (île de Montréal) and 450 (suburbs of Montreal and a little beyond).

If you hear someone say dans le 514 (dans le cinq-un-quatre), they’re referring to a place sur l’île de Montréal. On the other hand, dans le 450 (dans le quatre-cinq-zéro) refers to an area in the suburbs or elsewhere in the 450 zone. Either one of these expression can imply a comparison.

Examples:

J’habite dans le 514. (as opposed to out in the suburbs)
C’est vraiment loin de Montréal, c’est dans le 450!

On occasion, 450 will be used in a joking or even derogatory manner to refer to a suburbanite. For example, you may catch a snarky 514 speaker refer to a person who lives in the suburbs as… un 450!

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Image courtesy of NASA (ISS026-E-12474, http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov)