• 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
« “It can even last two winters.” Can you guess how someone said that in French without using DURER? (#1065)
“Everybody’s talking about it.” How do you say that in French? (#1067) »

“I’m gonna wait a little bit.” Can you guess how someone said that in French? (#1066)

6 December 2015 by OffQc

During a conversation, a guy said a French equivalent of “I’m gonna wait a little bit.” But when he said it, he used a number of pronunciations typical of spoken language.

Here’s what he said: j’vas attend’ un p’tit peu. (This means the same thing as je vais attendre un petit peu.) A bit of explanation is necessary here! Let’s start at the beginning.

The guy didn’t say je vais; he said j’vas. Vas rhymes with pas. In j’vas, je has contracted to j’. To pronounce j’vas, just put the French j sound on the front of vas and say it all in one syllable. J’vas is a spoken form often heard in conversations.

Next, let’s look at attend’. In fact, this spelling with the apostrophe is never used. I’ve just used it here to signal that the infinitive attendre was pronounced without its re ending. Careful, though, attend’ doesn’t sound like attend; it sounds like attende. This dropping of the re ending isn’t unique to attendre. It can happen with all the infinitives using the re ending. Vendre, battre, mettre, etc., can drop down to vend’ (vende), batt’ (batte), mett’ (mette). In writing, this dropping of the re is never shown. Even in informal writing, the full spelling is used — vendre, battre, mettre, attendre.

Un petit peu was pronounced as un p’tit peu. If you visualise the p’ as coming at the end of un instead, I think you’ll find it easier to pronounce. Do you remember that t, when it’s followed by the French i sound, is pronounced like the ts in the English word cats? unp tsi peu Now say it fast.

Get operational quickly in conversational Québécois French! An overview of the most important features of spoken language that you need to know — $10

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 #1051-1100 | Tagged français québécois, j'vas, Québécois French |

  • 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 1,535 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