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« “I’m getting fed up!” How to say this in French using TANNÉ (#1146)
7 ways to express anger like the Québécois without swearing (#1148) »

12 French words used in Québec you might be mispronouncing (#1147)

11 July 2016 by OffQc

1. GARS (guy, bloke)

The masculine gars rhymes with the French words pas, cas, tas. In other words, don’t pronounce the rs on the end of gars. If you do, you’ll end up saying garce instead, which is a word for bitch.

2. TABARNAK! (fuck!)

It bears repeating because it’s a common misconception: the Québécois don’t swear by saying tabernacle; they swear by saying tabarnak. The swear word tabarnak comes from tabernacle, yes, but tabernacle is reserved for referring to an actual tabernacle. Pay close attention to the differences between the two words: tabernacle and tabarnak. The swear word tabarnak has an a in the middle (not an e), and there’s no le on the end.

3. LYS (lily)

French words are replete with silent letters, but lys isn’t one of them. The final s is indeed pronounced in lys. What’s more, with the way the vowel i is pronounced by Québécois speakers in this word, you’ll notice lys sounds rather like liss (i.e., to rhyme with the English words hiss and miss). So it’s fleur-de-lisss, not fleur-de-liii.

4. BARIL (barrel)

The final L of baril is silent — in Québec, at any rate.

Here are more words whose final L is silent:

5. PERSIL (parsley)
6. NOMBRIL (bellybutton)
7. SOURCIL (eyebrow)
8. FUSIL (firearm)
9. GENTIL (kind, nice)
10. OUTIL (tool)

The final L of sourcil isn’t pronounced, but the final L of this word is heard:

11. CIL (eyelash)

And finally:

12. GENTILLE (nice, kind)

The masculine gentil ends in a silent L, but how’s the feminine form pronounced? The ille part of gentille sounds just like the ille part of the French word fille.

___

Learn how words contract in spoken Québécois French (with audio): read Contracted French

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Posted in Entries #1101-1150 | Tagged baril, cil, fleur-de-lys, français québécois, fusil, gars, gentil, gentille, lys, outil, persil, Québécois French, sourcil, tabarnak | 8 Comments

8 Responses

  1. on 11 July 2016 at 12:32 Mohammad Raza

    Very valuable post. Thanks for sharing !


    • on 11 July 2016 at 13:44 OffQc

      Thanks, Mohammad


  2. on 11 July 2016 at 13:08 VinnyBoombatz (@VinnyBoombatz)

    When I hear Quebecois say, Gars, I hear something close to guh. My father, of Quebec heritage, at least once a day, says to me now, Mon p’tit gar, mon p’tit rat.
    It’s what his father used to say to him when he was young.


    • on 11 July 2016 at 13:43 OffQc

      Yes, that’s right — that vowel sound is also heard in the other words I mentioned: pas, cas, tas. It’s also heard in bas, las, ras, rat, t’as (contraction of tu as), j’vas (contraction of je vais) and others. You’ll even hear some speakers use it in the final vowel sound of the country name Canada.


  3. on 11 July 2016 at 16:57 Freddy

    Thanks a bunch . Awesome learning


  4. on 11 July 2016 at 23:08 Andrea

    Great information – thank you!


  5. on 14 July 2016 at 09:44 David Williamson

    Random question: someone from my department wrote and email and said that the formatting on one of his documents was “tous décocrissés”. I assume that comes from the sacre word “crissé”? Does it basically mean “all fucked up”?


    • on 14 July 2016 at 10:07 OffQc

      Yes — déconcrisser (or décocrisser) is a vulgar equivalent of démonter.



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