OffQc | Québécois French Guide

Some more random French stuff, this time from the TV show Les Parent…

In a bathroom scene, we hear Natalie say to her husband, who has just farted:

J’haïs ça quand tu pètes!

“I hate it when you fart!” J’haïs ça quand… means “I hate it when…” J’haïs is pronounced ja-i.

***

In another scene, Louis walks into the dining room wearing a brown suit, shirt and tie. He asks his family members how he looks:

Comment vous me trouvez?

If you wanted to ask just one person how you looked, like a friend or girlfriend/boyfriend, you could ask: Comment tu me trouves?

When you want to know how someone thinks you look, ask: “How do you find me?” in French. Don’t translate “How do I look?” literally into French because you won’t get the question right.

***

Natalie is lecturing her youngest son Zak. Here’s how the conversation went:

Natalie:
Tu restes dans ta chambre, as-tu compris? Pis pas d’ordi pis pas d’jeux vidéo non plus!

Zak:
Mais lààà!!

Natalie:
Ya pas d’mais là!

— You’re going to stay in your room, do you understand? And no computer and no video games either!
— Come ooon!!
— There’s no “Come on”!

Un ordi is an informal word for ordinateur. If you remember that d sounds like dz before the French i sound, then you know that ordi sounds like ordzi in Quebec.

Mais là here shows Zak’s resistance and surprise to what his mother had said.

Ya pas is an informal pronunciation of il n’y a pas.

[All quotes from Les Parent, “24 heures à la fois,” season 4, episode 13, Radio-Canada, Montreal, 23 January 2012.]