OffQc | Québécois French Guide

In Québec, d gets pronounced dz before the French vowel sounds i and u. (dzidzu)

And t gets pronounced ts before the French vowel sounds i and u. (tsitsu)

Here are some dzidzu words:

dîner (dzîner), mardi (mardzi), duc (dzuc), perdu (perdzu)

And here are some tsitsu words:

tirer (tsirer), type (tsipe), tube (tsube), battu (battsu)

Here are some words containing d or t that are not dzidzu or tsitsu words (can you explain to yourself why?):

matin, douleur, information, Canada, côte, tour, donner

Now for some trickier stuff.

Words can never be dzidzu or tsitsu before the nasal vowels un, on, in, an:

patin, dingue, don, ton, tant, dans, inopportun

But they are indeed dzidzu and tsitsu if the nasal vowel sound is preceeded by a y sound:

canadien (canadzien), tiens (tsiens), Dion (Dzion)

And they are also dzidzu and tsitsu before the ui vowel sound:

tuile (tsuile), conduire (condzuire)

Remember, no need to stress over all of this because it’s never necessary to dzidzuate and tsitsuate to make yourself understood by the Québécois!