• Home
  • OffQc
  • About
  • Start
  • Off-quoi?
  • Listen to Québécois French

OffQc | Québécois French Guide

For lovers of French + diehard fans of all things québécois!

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Lisa LeBlanc and the word SO in the chorus of her song CÂLISSE-MOI LÀ (#797)
Fuck you l’été (#799) »

13 example sentences containing MARDE as used in Québécois French (#798)

21 May 2014 by OffQc

Oh hello, good morning!

Well good morning to you too!

In Québec, you’ll hear merde (shit) pronounced as marde.

Today’s a shitty day. Not because it’s a bad day but because marde is our word for today. Here are 13 example sentences of how marde likes to be kept busy in Québec.

It keeps your enemies entertained.

1. Mange don d’la marde.
Eat shit.

2. Qu’y mangent don d’la marde.
They can eat shit.

It keeps crappy objets company…

3. Crisse d’ordi à marde!
Fucking shitty computer!

… as well as crappy people.

4. Osti d’chien sale à marde!
You fucking shitty asshole!

It pays visits to people in a pickle.

5. Chu dans marde.
I’m so screwed.

6. T’es dans marde, man.
You’re screwed, man.

Shitty idea? Shitty day? Hell, shitty life? Why not.

7. Non mais quelle idée d’marde.
What a shitty idea that is.

8. Bonne journée d’marde à toi!
Have a shitty day!

9. Maudite vie d’marde.
Goddamn shitty life.

People can be treated like it.

10. Y me traite comme d’la marde.
He treats me like shit.

11. Y me parle comme d’la marde.
He talks to me like shit.

It loves the stink…

12. Ouache, ça pue la marde!
Yuck, it smells like shit!

… and the wintertime.

13. Chu pu capab d’la marde blanche.
I can’t stand the snow (white shit) anymore.

***

What is don in the first two examples? It’s how donc is pronounced. I used the spelling don so that you wouldn’t be tempted to pronounce it as donk. But are you wondering why donc is even used in these examples to begin with? Don’t try to analyse it too much; you’ll often come across donc in declarations like these. It sounds better with it!

Do you remember to dzidzuate and tsitsuate? Maudzite journée d’marde. Crisse d’ordzi à marde. Ostsi d’chien sale à marde. If you forget to do your dz and ts, don’t worry — you’ll still be understood. If you can manage it though, it’ll sound a lot more authentic. If you use the offcois nouns le dzidzu and le tsitsu with your French prof, he’ll either worry that you know something he doesn’t or think you’ve gone batshit crazy.

Don’t forget that il and ils are most often pronounced as y (or i) when people speak colloquially. Y me traite comme d’la marde means the same thing as il me traite comme d’la marde. Remember too that je suis very often contracts to chu, and tu es becomes t’es.

In 13, chu pu capab means the same thing as je ne suis plus capable. There’s a lot of contraction going on here! Je suis became chu, plus became pu (also spelled informally as pus), and capable lost its le sound on the end.

Bonne journée d’marde à vous tous!
Have a shitty day everybody!

_ _ _

Related reading: Ma vie, c’est de la marde! (#803)

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Posted in Entries #751-800 | Tagged capable, chien sale à marde, dzidzu, français québécois, marde, marde blanche, merde, ordi, osti, ostie, prononciation, pronunciation, Québécois French, shit, tsitsu | 8 Comments

8 Responses

  1. on 21 May 2014 at 14:38 Benoît Melançon

    The word “Marde” is even used in ads : http://oreilletendue.com/2012/01/04/m-m/


  2. on 21 May 2014 at 19:38 Alphen Cheng

    then is “merde” use for good luck in Qc?


    • on 23 May 2014 at 00:43 OffQc

      Yes, you might hear it used!


  3. on 22 May 2014 at 00:36 Jose Delacroix

    I truly can’t wait to learn Québécois!! I was fortunate enough to have learned French at an early stage of my life, it was my “second language” for a few years. THEN I moved to the States and learned English, which totally obliterated, due to the lack of practice, my French. So, it will be fun to continue the learning process.


  4. on 22 May 2014 at 02:07 mathieulbouchard

    Note that the spelling “marde” was born when Québec French lost its pronounciation rule of “er” as “ar”. Typically, the most vulgar word meanings did not follow the change of pronounciation, which caused appearance of spellings “marde”, “viarge”, “tabarnac”, while the same former words continued to exist with non-vulgar meanings and new pronunciation “er”. If you listen to people who still have an old accent, you will notice that say “ar” instead of “er” in a lot more cases not related to vulgarity (la porte varte est ouvarte, pas bien farmée).


    • on 10 May 2016 at 19:59 hicnuntio9

      Excellent advice Mathieu. Thank you.


  5. on 25 May 2014 at 12:39 Max

    I’ve noticed within a few posts relating to “Chu pu capab,” that there’s actually no negative in the sentence. Has “Pu/Plus” evolved in colloquial Quebecois to just mean the negative regardless of situation?


    • on 25 May 2014 at 17:57 OffQc

      The negative part of chu pu capab is pu. If this sentence were in the positive, it would be chu capab. The the pu is what makes it a negative.

      You may have learned that ne… plus means “no more.” This is of course true (for example: je ne suis plus capable), but speakers often drop the ne, leaving just plus (or pu when said informally).

      It’s similar to ne… pas. Je ne sais pas is in the negative, but so is je sais pas. Even though the ne can drop informally, the pas is what keeps the sentence a negative one.



Comments are closed.

  • Books

    The OffQc bookshop is always open. See all titles here.

    Contracted French Put an end to not understanding spoken French by learning the most important contractions used in speech

    C’est what? Overview of common features of spoken Québécois French; pave the way for further independent study

    1000 Learn or review a large amount of everyday words and expressions used in Québécois French in condensed form

  • Follow OffQc by email. It's free. Enter your email address in the box below.

    Join 1,549 other followers

  • Read a random entry
    OffQc bookshop
    OffQc on Twitter
    OffQc on Pinterest
    • Listen to Québécois French: Almost 100 videos + transcripts
  • Number

    • Entries #1151-1200
    • Entries #1101-1150
    • Entries #1051-1100
    • Entries #1001-1050
    • Entries #951-1000
    • Entries #901-950
    • Entries #851-900
    • Entries #801-850
    • Entries #751-800
    • Entries #701-750
    • Entries #651-700
    • Entries #601-650
    • Entries #551-600
    • Entries #501-550
    • Entries #451-500
    • Entries #401-450
    • Entries #351-400
    • Entries #301-350
    • Entries #251-300
    • Entries #201-250
    • Entries #151-200
    • Entries #101-150
    • Entries #51-100
    • Entries #1-50
  • Month

    • June 2017
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×