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« “I’d have liked to see you.” How might you say that in French? (#1085)
“What do you want me to say?” Can you guess how someone said that in French? (#1087) »

“I’m gonna check this evening.” Can you guess how someone said this in French during a conversation? (#1086)

8 February 2016 by OffQc

“I’m gonna check [that] this evening.” A man said an equivalent of this in French. Can you guess how? Make an attempt before reading on.

Square Dorchester, à Montréal [février 2016]

Square Dorchester, à Montréal [février 2016]

Did your attempt sound like the following?

Je vais vérifier ça ce soir.

It’s correct, but it’s not what he said. Let’s look at how he did.

Maybe you know that, in conversational French, ce soir is often said instead as à soir.

Je vais vérifier ça à soir.

And maybe you know also know that vérifier is often said informally as checker.

Je vais checker ça à soir.

Maybe you know too that je vais is often said as j’vas in spoken French, where vas rhymes with pas.

J’vas checker ça à soir.

But did you know that je vais and j’vas might also be said as m’as in conversations? M’as rhymes with pas.

M’as checker ça à soir.

That’s exactly how the man said it.

M’as comes from s’en aller. In the same way that je vais can be conjugated colloquially as je vas (which contracts to j’vas), the first-person conjugation je m’en vais can be conjugated colloquially as je m’en vas (which contracts to j’m’en vas).

Je m’en vas
contracts to j’m’en vas, which
contracts to m’en vas, which
contracts to m’as.

M’as is an informal usage. You’re not required to use it yourself (nobody expects non-native speakers to use it), but do be sure to understand it.

You can stick with je vais when you need to use prescribed French (in French class, in writing, etc.), but you might want to give j’vas a try from time to time to give your French a colloquial feel — when speaking with francophone friends, for example.

You’ll know if and when you can use m’as when you reach a high level of mastery in French.

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Posted in Entries #1051-1100 | Tagged à soir, checker, français québécois, j'vas, je m'en vas, m'as, Québécois French, s'en aller | 3 Comments

3 Responses

  1. on 8 February 2016 at 14:32 Mohammad

    Wow! Never thought of it that way. Great post!


  2. on 8 February 2016 at 16:03 Renée Causse

    Merci
    j’ai enseigné le français pendant plus de 20ans aux adultes en Ontario et je continue en ligne avec des clients en Colombie Britannique et je n’ai jamais rien trouvé d’aussi riche, intéressant et amusant que ton site ( que j’ai découvert par accident, il y a quelques jours) pour les initier à la langue québécoise. Un vrai trésor.
    Je suis sûre que j’aurai beaucoup de plaisir à en discuter avec eux car ils sont tous intrigués par les différences entre le “français international” et la langue de la Belle Province.
    Magnifique travail.
    Bravo.
    Renée


  3. on 8 February 2016 at 20:48 Bryce Carson

    Hey I have to second that! This site is absolutely a magnifique travail. I read every one of your posts, and they’ve really added a lot of Canadian richness to my French. I hope you keep on it for a long long time! Thanks so much 😀



Comments are closed.

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