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| Major French dialects |
| Acadian French |
| African French |
| Belgian French |
| Cajun French |
| France French |
| Quebec French |
| Swiss French |
There are various lexical differences between Quebec French and the France French. These are distributed throughout the registers, from slang to formal usage.
Although the Quebec Office of the French language believe that neither morphology nor syntax should be any different betweem Quebec and France French, and even that phonetic differences should be kept as low as possible, they agreed since the 1960s to the use of words then called well-formed canadianisms (canadianismes de bon aloi), that either are regional in nature (such as names of plants and animals), have been used ever since before the Conquest, or are justified in their origin and are considered to be quivalent or "better" than the standard equivalent.
A very first list of words (integrally reproduced here) was published in 1969, containing mainly words archaic in France but still in common use in Quebec, especially imperial units of measure, and words from native languages. Other lists, mostly terminologic in nature, have been published on a regular basis since then.
| Quebec French | English | France French | Note |
| abatis | |||
| achigan | black bass | perche noire | |
| acre | acre | ||
| arpent | arpent | ||
| atoca | cranberry | canneberge | |
| avionnerie | aircraft manufacturing plant | ||
| banc de neige | snowdrift | congère | |
| batture | batture | ||
| biculturalisme | bicultural tradition | ||
| bleuet | blueberry | myrtille | |
| bleuetière | blueberry field | bleuetterie (theoretically) | |
| boisseau | bushel | ||
| bordages | Ice stuck to the bank of a river | ||
| bouscueil | Jostling of ice under the effect of winds, tides, or streams | ||
| brûlot | A type of cranefly | ||
| brunante | Fall of the night | ||
| cabane à sucre | sugar house | ||
| cacaoui | oldsquaw | harelde boréale | |
| canot | boat (not canoe) | Not the same as canoé or canoë | |
| canton | township | ||
| carriole | sleigh | ||
| catalogne | catalogne | lirette | |
| cèdre | thuja/cedar | thuya/thuja d'Occident | |
| ceinture fléchée | Assomption sash | ||
| chopine | pint | ||
| comté | A type of administrative territorial division | ||
| coureur de(s) bois | |||
| débarbouillette | facecloth | ||
| demiard | half-pint | ||
| doré | walleye/blue pike perch/sauger/doré | ||
| épluchette | To peel maize; also designates a social gathering where people peel and eat maize | ||
| érablière | maple grove | ||
| fin de semaine | weekend | week-end | |
| frasil | frazil ice | ||
| gallon | gallon | ||
| goglu | bobolink | ||
| huard (huart) | loon | pygargue | |
| ligne | line | ||
| livre | pound | ||
| maskinongé | muskellunge | ||
| millage | mileage | ||
| mille | statute mile | ||
| once | ounce | ||
| ouananiche | landlocked salmon | saumon atlantique d'eau douce | |
| ouaouaron | bullfrog | grenouille-taureau | |
| outarde | Canada goose | bernache du Canada | |
| pied | foot | ||
| pinte | quart | Pints are known as chopines in Quebec | |
| pouce | inch | ||
| poudrerie | blowing snow | chasse-neige | |
| pruche | Eastern hemlock | tsuga du Canada | |
| rang | |||
| raquetteur | snowshoer | ||
| savane | savanna | ||
| souffleuse | snowblower | chasse-neige | |
| suisse | eastern chipmunk | tamia rayé | |
| tire | maple taffy | ||
| transcanadien | Trans-Canada | ||
| traversier | ferryboat | ferry/bac/transbordeur | |
| tuque | tuque | ||
| verge | yard | ||
| vivoir | living-room | living/séjour |
Many differences that exist between Quebec French and European French arise from the preservation of certain forms that are today archaic in Europe.
For example, espérer for "to wait" (attendre in France).
Cour in Quebec is a backyard (jardin in French), whereas in France cour has dropped this meaning and primarily means a courtyard (as well as other meanings like court). However, in some areas of France, such as in the mining regions of northern France, cour still means backyard.
The word breuvage is used for "drink" in addition to boisson; this is an old French usage (bevrage) from which the English "beverage" originates. Breuvage may be used in European French, but generally indicates some nuance, possibly pejorative.
The word piastre or piasse, a slang term for a dollar (equivalent to "buck"), was in fact the term originally used in French for the American or Spanish dollar.
The word couple is used in standard French as a masculine noun (a couple, married or unmarried), but in Quebec it is also used as a feminine noun in phrases like une couple de semaines (a couple of weeks). This is often thought to be an anglicism, but is in fact a preservation of an archaic French usage. This confusion is not as wrong-headed as might be thought, though, given that English itself includes French or Norman archaicisms (e.g. the pronunciation of an initial "ch" as /tʃ/).
A number of terms that in other French-speaking regions are exclusively nautical are used in wider contexts in Quebec. This is often attributed to the original arrival of French immigrants by ship. An example is the word débarquer, which in Quebec means to get off any conveyance (a car, a train); in Europe, this word means only to disembark from a ship or aircraft (on descend from other vehicles), plus some colloquial uses.
There are also words for Quebec specialties that do not exist in Europe, for example poutine, cégep, tuque (a Canadianism in both official languages), and dépanneur (a corner store/small grocery; dépanneur in France is a mechanic who comes in to repair a car or a household appliance).
Blueberries, abundant in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, are called bleuets; in France, they are called myrtilles and bleuet means cornflower. (Bleuet is also slang for someone from the Saguenay.)
French speakers of Quebec use the informal second-person pronoun tu more often and in more contexts than speakers in France do. In certain contexts it may be perfectly appropriate to address a stranger or even the customer of a store using tu, whereas the latter would be considered very impolite in France.
Although it is best to avoid generalizations, Parisian French speech (and public speakers such as politicians) often come across as stuffy or snobbish to the ears of Quebec Francophones. This is also true for the ears of people from southern France, who pronounce French very differently from Parisian people. Southern French people who move temporarily to Paris and pick up the local Parisian accent are often derided by their friends remained in the south. It is also very similar to the perception North American English-speakers may have of British English' ("upper-class" and "fancy").
There is a huge variety of idioms in Quebec that do not exist in France, such as fait que ("so"); en masse ("a lot"); s'en venir (for arriver and venir ici); ben là! or voyons donc! ("oh, come on!"), de même (for comme ça).
Entire reference books have been written about idioms specific to Quebec. A handful of examples among many hundreds:
Dialog in sitcoms on Quebec television uses such idioms extensively, which can make some dialog rather incomprehensible to speakers of European French.
As with any two regional variants, there are an abundance of slang terms found in Quebec that are not found in France. Quebec French profanity uses references to Catholic liturgical equipment, rather than the references to prostitution that are more common in France.
The expression "you're welcome" is bienvenue in Quebec, de rien in France; and the expression bonjour can be used for "goodbye" in Quebec, which it cannot in France (although it is more common to say au revoir or bye).
One of the more hazardous differences is the fact that gosses ("kids" in France) means "testicles" in Quebec. (Gosser means "to annoy.") This brought many hilarious situations involving French tourists making remarks about kids to their Quebecer parents. And boules, which means testicles in Europe, means breasts in Quebec.
Some slang terms unique to Quebec:
| Ben | very | Used informally for "Well...," on both sides. Ben, tu te souviens de cette encyclopédie sur Internet?. It is derived from the formal form Et bien. |
| Bibitte | Small insect | Derived from bébête for small creature. |
| Blonde | Girlfriend | NB, the girlfriend in question could have black hair (or skin!) |
| Bobette(s) | Underwear | |
| Brailler | To weep, to whine | In Europe, to scream, to speak very loudly (colloquial) |
| Char | Car | In Europe, a char is an army tank or a chariot. |
| Chum | Boyfriend | |
| Crosser | To masturbate; to cheat | Crosseur = wanker, swindler |
| Éc?urant | Wonderful | Means dreadful in Europe, a sense also found in Qc. Note, someone calling you mon éc?urant is not a term of endearment. |
| Envoye (enweye) | Let's go, hurry up, come on | Often pronounced with a "w" sound, not with "v" |
| Fin / Fine | Nice, sweet (of a person) | |
| Flo | A boy (perhaps 10 years old or so) | Might possibly be an anglicism from "fellow"; European French = môme |
| Foufounes | Buttocks | Une foufoune (Eu) is an impolite sexual slang word for a vagina. Compare fanny. In France "Foufounes" would be "fesses". |
| Le fun | fun, amusing (adjective, not noun, despite the le) | C'est très le fun des jeux pas mal le fun |
| Garrocher | To throw | |
| Jaser | To chat | Slandering chat is Eu., unusual. |
| Magané | Deteriorated, used | Can also mean tired, sick or exhausted. |
| Pantoute | Not at all | Contraction of pas en tout (pas du tout) |
| Paqueté | Drunk | |
| Platte | Boring, unfortunate | plat with the t pronounced |
| Poche | stupid, untalented | |
| Pogner | get, grab | Can also mean to be sexually attractive, successful |
| Quétaine | kitsch, tacky | |
| Tanné | Fed up | |
| Taper, tomber sur les nerfs | To irritate someone | Only taper sur les nerfs in France. |
| Se tasser | Move over | Eu: S'entasser: to be jammed in together. Ça se tasse: situation where spirits settle down after a scandal or quarrel |
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Achigan | Black bass |
| Atoca | Cranberry |
| Boucane | Smoke |
| Manitou | Important individual |
| Maskinongé | Muskellunge (a pike) |
| Micouène | Large wooden spoon |
| Mocassin | Moccasin |
| Ouananiche | Land-locked variety of salmon |
| Orignal | Moose |
Loanwords from English in French, as well as calques or loan syntaxic structures, are known as anglicisms (French: anglicisme).
The use of anglicisms in colloquial and Quebec French slang is commonplace. Some examples of long-standing anglicisms include:
| Anglicism | Meaning | English word (cognate) |
|---|---|---|
| anyway | Anyway | |
| all-dressed | With all the toppings [pizza, etc] | |
| bécosse | Outhouse, washroom | backhouse |
| bines | Pork and beans | beans |
| bonhomme sept heures | Boogeyman | bone-setter |
| chum | Male friend; boyfriend | |
| checker | To check | check |
| chiffe/chiffre | A shift [work period at factory, etc] | shift |
| cool | Agreeable, interesting | |
| cruiser | Make a pass at | cruise |
| cute | Cute (good-looking) | |
| faker | To simulate, pretend (eg, orgasm) | fake |
| fan | A fan (of a band, a sports team), a ceiling fan | |
| filer | To feel [bad, guilty, etc] | feel |
| flocher | To flush (toilet); get rid of; dump [boyfriend/girlfriend] | flush |
| flyé | Extravagant, far out, over the top | fly |
| frencher | To French kiss | french |
| fucké | Broken, crazy | fucked up |
| full | Very | |
| game | Game, sports match | |
| good | Good! [expressing approval; not as an adjective] | |
| hot | Hot (excellent, attractive) | |
| hotchicken | Hot chicken sandwich | hot chicken |
| loose | Loose, untied, released | |
| match | Match (sports) | |
| moppe | Mop | mop |
| pâte à dents | Toothpaste | calque of "toothpaste" |
| pinotte | Peanut | peanut |
| party | Party, social gathering | |
| scramme | Scram! Get lost! | |
| scraper | Scrap, ruin, break, destroy, nullify | scrap |
| slacker | slacken, loosen; slack off, take it easy; fire [employee] | slack |
| smatte | Smart; wise-guy; likeable [person]; cool | smart |
| smoke meat | Montreal smoked meat (like pastrami) | smoked meat |
| steamé | Hot dog | steamed |
| tof | Difficult, rough | tough |
| toffer | Withstand, endure | tough it out |
| toune | Song | tune |
| triper | To be high, to be aroused, to enjoy | trip |
| whatever | (Indicating dismissal) | whatever |
It is also very commonplace for an English word to be used as a nonce word, for example when the speaker temporarily cannot remember the French word. This is particularly common with technical words; indeed, years ago before technical documentation began to be printed in French in Quebec, an English word might be the most common way for a French-speaking mechanic or other technical worker to refer to the mechanisms he or she had to deal with.
It is often difficult or impossible to distinguish between such a nonce anglicism and an English word quoted as such for effect.
There are some anglicisms that have no obvious connection to any currently existing modern Canadian English idiom. For example, partir sur un nowhere ("leave on a 'nowhere'", to go on an adventurous trip without necessarily knowing your destination or perhaps even your travel companions); etre su'l party ("be on the 'party,'" to be partying or to be in the mood for a party).
A number of Quebecisms used in the standard register are also derived from English forms, especially as calques, such as prendre une marche (from "take a walk," in France, se promener, also used in Quebec) and banc de neige (from English "snowbank;" in France, congère, a form unknown in Quebec.) However, in standard and formal registers, there is a much stronger tendency to avoid English borrowings in Quebec than in France.
As a result, especially with regard to in modern items, Quebec French often contains forms designed to be more "French" than an English borrowing that may be used anyway in European French, like fin de semaine which is week-end in France, or courriel (from courrier électronique) for France's e-mail or mel. Some are calques into French of English phrases that Continental French borrowed directly, such as un chien chaud for European French hot dog. Likewise, the word "gay" in the sense of "homosexual" is used in the English form in France, but in Quebec, the spelling gai is standard (gai has kept the original meaning of gay in France: "happy", "cheerful").
Although many (not all) of these forms were promulgated by the Office de la Langue Française (OLF) of Quebec, they have been accepted into everyday use. Indeed, the French government has since adopted the word courriel (although it remains to be seen whether it will come into widespread use among the French public as it has in Quebec).
The perceived overuse of anglicisms in the colloquial register is a cause of the stigmatization of Quebec French. Both the Quebercers and the French accuse each other (and themselves) of using too many anglicisms. A joke runs that the difference between European French and Quebec French is that in Europe, on se gare dans un parking (one parks in a carpark) and in Quebec, on se parque dans un stationnement (one parks in a parking lot).
Quebec and France tend to have entirely different anglicisms because in Quebec they are the gradual result of two and a half centuries of living among English speakers, whereas in Europe they are much more recent and result from the increasing international dominance of American English. Statistically though, and rather counter-intuitively, the French use more anglicisms than the Quebecers.
See also Franglais.
Here are some other differences between standard Quebec French and European French:
| Quebec term | Translation | Meaning of term in Europe | European term | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto | Car | car (childish or archaic) | Voiture | |
| Abreuvoir | Water fountain | Watering place for animals | Fontaine | Used only for animals in Europe (or for comical effect) |
| Achalandage | Traffic (of a store, street, public transit) | Stock, merchandise, clientele (archaic) | Trafic | |
| Arrêt | A stop or command to stop | Stop | Used on all stop signs. Also used as arrêt d'autobus, "prochain arrêt", etc. | |
| Aubaine | Sale | Opportunity | Promotion | An item is une aubaine but en promotion |
| Barrer | To lock | To block or to strike through | Fermer à clef, verrouiller | Quebec usage archaic in Europe |
| Bête | Disagreeable (person) | Stupid | Désagréable, impoli | European usage also used in Quebec |
| Bienvenue | "You're welcome", welcome | De rien | De rien is also spoken | |
| Blé d'Inde | Maize | Maïs | Maïs also standard in Quebec | |
| Brosse | Drinking binge | Brush | Cuite | |
| Cartable | Binder | School bag, Satchel | Classeur | See also classeur |
| Cédule | Schedule | Tax bracket (archaic) | Emploi du temps | |
| Chandail | T-shirt, sweater, sweatshirt | Knit sweater | T-shirt, pull | |
| Choquer | To anger | To shock | Fâcher | |
| Classeur | Filing cabinet | Binder | Armoire à dossier | See also cartable |
| Correct | Good, sufficient, kind, O.K. | corrected | bon, beau, etc. | |
| Coupe glacée | Ice cream sundae | de la glace au chocolat, de la glace aux fraises, etc. | An ice cream stand is known as a bar laitier | |
| Croche | Crooked; strange, dishonest | Eighth note | crochu; bizarre | |
| Crème glacée | Ice cream | de la glace | An ice cream stand is known as a bar laitier | |
| Débarbouillette | Dishrag | Serviette, torchon | ||
| Débarquer | Get out of (a car, etc.) | Disembark (from a boat) | Descendre | |
| Déjeuner | Breakfast | Lunch | Petit déjeuner | See also dîner, souper. Qc. usage same as in Belgium. |
| Dîner | Lunch | Dinner | Déjeuner | Qc. usage same as in Belgium. |
| Efface | Eraser | Gomme | Gomme is used for chewing-gum | |
| Épais | Dumb, slow-witted | Thick | Con | |
| Espadrilles | Running shoes | Rope-soled sandal | Baskets | |
| Être plein | To be full (from eating) | pleine: to be pregnant; also to be drunk (in Belgium at least) | Avoir trop mangé | |
| Fesser | To hit | To spank | Frapper | |
| (ma) fête | (my) birthday | (my) saint's day | anniversaire | |
| Innocent | Stupid [person] | Innocent, naive | Imbécile | |
| Insignifiant | Stupid [person] | Insignificant, unremarkable | Imbécile | |
| Linge | Clothes | Linen | Vêtements | |
| Liqueur | Carbonated beverage | Liquor, liqueur | Soda | |
| Magasiner | To go shopping | Faire des courses, de la lèche-vitrine | ||
| Maringouin | Mosquito | Moustique | ||
| Mouiller | To rain | To wet | Pleuvoir | |
| Niaiser | Annoy, tease, kid, act up | (doesn't exist as a verb; niais="stupid") | Se moquer or (hum) dire des niaiseries | Déniaiser (Eu) is to make a man lose his virginity. J'avais juste vingt ans et je me déniaisais/ Au bordel ambulant d'une armée en campagne (Brel) |
| Patate | Potato | Potato (informal term) | Pomme de terre | |
| Peser sur | Press (a button) | Weigh | Appuyer | |
| Poudrerie | Blizzard, blowing snow | Gunpowder factory | Blizzard, tempête de neige | |
| Rentrer | Enter | Re-enter | Entrer | In Quebec, "re-enter" is rerentrer |
| Sans-c?ur | Lazy | Heartless | Paresseux | |
| Souper | Dinner | Late-night dinner | Dîner | Qc. usage same as in Belgium. See also déjeuner, dîner |
| Suçon | Lollipop | Hickey | Sucette | and vice-versa: a sucette is a hickey in Quebec |
| Téléroman | Soap opera | A soap opera or a continuing series | Feuilleton | |
| Valise | Trunk of a car | Suitcase (also in QC) | Coffre | |
| Viaduc | Overpass | Long highway bridge, for instance over a valley | ||
| Vidanges | Garbage | Act of emptying | Ordures |
Many, but not all, of the European equivalents for the words listed above are also used or at least understood in Quebec.
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