Here are 5 new examples of French from around Montréal.
1. Bonjour, bonjour, rebonjour!
A guy who I bumped into twice within the space of about 15 minutes rebonjoured me with rebonjour! It’s a playful usage and, as you probably guessed, it means “hello again.”
2. Vous voulez vous asseoir?
If you’re on the bus or métro, you can offer your seat to someone who needs it more than you with this question.
3. L’avenir appartient à ceux qui se réveillent.
I didn’t hear this, I saw it. It’s from a promotional poster for an energy drink displayed in dépanneurs around Montréal.
“The future belongs to those who wake up.”
The poster is really about waking up by drinking the energy drink. But if we ignore that, it conveys a nice message about just waking up early in general. For us late-risers, it’s good to be reminded to wake up every now and again.
4. Tabarouette!
This is a milder version of tabarnak. It sounds like “tabarwett.” It’s maybe similar to “jeez” or “darn it” in English.
5. Es-tu correct?
As I passed in front of a hotel entrance, an employee was carrying the bags and suitcase of a guest at the hotel. Another employee asked him if he could manage on his own by saying es-tu correct? (are you OK?). Informally, you’ll hear correct pronounced as correc.
tabarouette, ceuli-là me faisait toujours rire !