Following Justin Trudeau’s confession that he’s smoked weed, I collected some vocabulary related to marijuana used in the Québécois media for you to learn.
The examples are linked directly to their source. There’s pronunciation help at the end of this entry.
1. fumer du pot
Justin Trudeau admet avoir fumé du pot il y a trois ans.
Justin Trudeau admits that he smoked pot three years ago.
2. fumer de la marijuana
Justin Trudeau dit avoir fumé de la marijuana.
Justin Trudeau says that he smoked marijuana.
3. allumer un joint
« L’un de nos amis a allumé un joint. »
“One of our friends lit up a joint.”
4. fumer du cannabis
Justin Trudeau a fumé du cannabis «cinq ou six fois» dans sa vie.
Justin Trudeau has smoked cannabis “five or six times” in his life.
5. prendre une puff
M. Trudeau a reconnu avoir «pris une puff» lors d’un souper entre amis.
Mr. Trudeau admitted to having taken a puff at a supper with friends.
6. rendre le pot légal
Faut-il rendre le pot légal?
Should pot be made legal?
7. la légalisation de la marijuana
Trudeau fera de la légalisation de la marijuana un élément de sa plateforme électorale.
Trudeau will make the legalisation of marijuana part of his electoral platform.
8. décriminaliser la marijuana
9. légaliser la marijuana
Le gouvernement Harper a réitéré mercredi son refus de décriminaliser et de légaliser la marijuana.
The Harper government reiterated its refusal on Wednesday to decriminalise and legalise marijuana.
10. essayer le cannabis
Stephen Harper n’a jamais essayé le cannabis.
Stephen Harper has never smoked (tried) cannabis.
The words marijuana, cannabis and pot are interchangeable but, of the three, pot has a more informal feel to it.
If you can say légaliser la marijuana, you can also say légaliser le cannabis and légaliser le pot. If you can say décriminaliser la marijuana, you can also say décriminaliser le cannabis and décriminaliser le pot.
Pronunciation help
- The final t in pot is pronounced.
- The final s in cannabis is pronounced.
- Puff sounds like poffe.
- Joint is pronounced like a French word.
This would have been useful last night when I was talking with my boyfriend’s mom about Justin Bieber smoking too much pot. I couldn’t figure or the gender of marijuana but she got what I meant nonetheless.