OffQc | Québécois French Guide

At Dollarama, you’ll find all kinds of crap you never knew you needed.

What you won’t find though are lessons in Quebec French. For that, you need OffQc.

Let’s go on a Dollarama field trip.

Birthday cards for great-grandsons…

Bonne fête, cher arrière-petit-fils!

In Québec, a birthday is called une fête. You can wish somebody a happy birthday by saying bonne fête.

It’s your birthday today? You can say c’est ma fête aujourd’hui.

Temporary Habs tattoos…

The packaging in the image uses the word tatouage for tattoo, but you’ll very often hear a tattoo called un tatou in Québec.

The word tatouage is the standard one for tattoo in French, which is why the package says tatouage and not tatou.

Tatou is heard at an informally spoken level of language.

$100 bill serviettes…

The official word for dollar is un dollar, but you’ll also hear une piasse during conversations. Cent piasses means the same thing as cent dollars, but it’s an informal use.

Speaking of money, Canada recently eliminated the penny. No more sou noir… A quarter (25 cents) is called un vingt-cinq sous in Québec.

Canadian money erasers…

The package in the image uses the term une gomme à effacer, but you’ll also hear an eraser referred to as une efface in Québec. You probably won’t see une efface on packaging though.

Miniature hockey sticks…

A hockey stick is called un bâton de hockey in Québec, or just un bâton when the context is clear.

Bâton is written with the accented â, which you’ll remember sounds something like “aww.”

The puck is called la rondelle in Québec, but sometimes also la puck (la poque).

At métro station Berri-UQÀM in Montréal, maybe you’ve noticed people sitting on a black, circular bench in the shape of a puck, near the turnstiles. That spot is known by many as la puck. It’s a popular meeting spot.

And Habs tissues…

For when the team makes you cry?

In Québec, you’ll hear “to cry” said two ways: pleurer and brailler (pronounced brâiller). The verb brailler can also mean “to whine.”