OffQc | Québécois French Guide

If you listen to speakers from Quebec, you’ll hear a pronunciation of the letters d and t that you were probably never introduced to in French class.

Sometimes the letter d sounds like dz, like in the English word “fads.”
Sometimes the letter t sounds like ts, like in the English word “cats.”

OK. But when?

First, have a go at pronouncing all the letter combinations below in French. Don’t worry about whether or not you’re pronouncing it the québécois way. Just pronounce them the way you’ve learned.

da de dé di do dô dou du dun don din dan
ta te té ti to tô tou tu tun ton tin tan

In two of those letter combinations, a speaker from Quebec would have pronounced d as dz. And in two of the letter combinations, t would have been pronounced as ts. Which ones?

da de dé di [=dzi] do dô dou du [=dzu] dun don din dan
ta te té ti [=tsi] to tô tou tu [=tsu] tun ton tin tan

Can you figure out the québécois pronunciation rule?

Here it is:

Before the French sounds i and u, the letter d converts to a dz sound and t converts to a ts sound. (It also happens before î and û.) It can happen anywhere in the word, at the beginning (dire: dzire) or in any other syllable (maudit: maudzit).

Note: This pronunciation of the letters d and t never happens before any other vowel sound (a, e, é, o, ô, ou) or nasal sound (un, on, in, an).

Have a go at pronouncing the following words. Can you apply the rule correctly? The answers follow.

dire; docteur; dimanche; dollar; dur; déranger; derrière; dodu; dame; dessus; dupe; dingue; distance; mardi; diable; ridicule; dinde; datte; produire; titre; tisane; tête; taper; timbre; tube; teint; témoin; matin; tenture; tuteur; nation; tu; touriste; tôt; cantine; posture

Answers (pronunciation shown in brackets)

dire [dzire]; docteur [docteur]; dimanche [dzimanche]; dollar [dollar]; dur [dzur]; déranger [déranger]; derrière [derrière]; dodu [dodzu]; dame [dame]; dessus [dessus]; dupe [dzupe]; dingue [dingue]; distance [dzistance]; mardi [mardzi]; diable [dziable]; ridicule [ridzicule]; dinde [dinde]; datte [datte]; produire [prodzuire]; titre [tsitre]; tisane [tsisane]; tête [tête]; taper [taper]; timbre [timbre]; tube [tsube]; teint [teint]; témoin [témoin]; matin [matin]; tenture [tentsure]; tuteur [tsuteur]; nation [nation]; tu [tsu]; touriste [touriste]; tôt [tôt]; cantine [cantsine]; posture [postsure]

You never need to pronounce the letters d and t like this yourself to make yourself understood. Whether you pronounce dire as [dzire] or [dire], you’ll be understood either way. You can simply learn to recognise this pronunciation feature, if you like. Try listening for it to challenge yourself.

If you do want to adopt it yourself, I suggest you listen to lots of spoken French from Quebec before you start attempting it. Although it seems easy, you may go overboard and start pronouncing d and t like this in every single word, which would be incorrect. Let it sink in first!

Read more on this topic in entry #210.