Speak Like a French-Canadian: Québécois Slang Terms You Should Know

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How different is Canadian French or Québécois from Standard French? How did it come to be and what slang words do they have? Learn it here.

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The QuébécoisThe Origin of QuébécoisThe difference between Standard French & QuébécoisCommon Québécois Vocabulary and PhrasesQuébécois VocabularyCommon Québécois PhrasesQuébécois Swear Words and Curses

Are you thinking about travelling to French-speaking Canada? Hoping to watch a French Canadian film or TV show? First things first, the French spoken in France and the French spoken in Canada are two very different beasts.

This article is here to help you with the ins and outs of Canadian French.

The Québécois

Québec French (français québécois), also known as Québécois, is the most prominent variety of French spoken in Canada.

French is the first language of millions of Canadians, roughly one in five people in Canada according to the 2021 census. Most native French speakers in Canada live in Québec, the only province where French is the sole official language; the vast majority of its population can speak French.

Québécois is very distinct from the French spoken in France. It has its own unique characteristics and vocabulary, due to its own unique history.

The Origin of Québécois

In the early 1600s, France began colonizing what is now modern-day Canada, founding Quebec City in 1608. The French colonists established permanent settlements and French became the language of the colony.

In 1763 Britain took control of Québec from France under the Treaty of Paris. Some French officials and elites left, and the region’s political and commercial ties changed. English gained importance in government and commerce, while French remained the language of most of the population.

There was a lot of resistance from the French-speaking Québécois, who continued to speak French with features inherited from several regions of France. The industrialization at the tail-end of the 1800s saw large numbers of the rural Quebec population move to the English-speaking cities.

Contact between French and English influenced popular urban speech. Joual, originally a disparaging label, comes from a popular pronunciation of cheval (“horse”). It refers to a popular variety of Québec French, rather than all Québécois speech.

The difference between Standard French & Québécois

Québécois developed from the French spoken by settlers from several regions of France during the 17th and 18th centuries. It retains some older features that are less common in present-day France, and has also continued to evolve in its own way.

It’s important to note that both the French and the Québécois use the same standard French in writing. They use the same sentence structure and grammatical rules.

Common Québécois Vocabulary and Phrases

Here are some commonly used vocabulary and phrases found in casual conversation in Québécois.

Québécois Vocabulary

• Les binnes (f pl)beans
• Les bobettes (f pl)knickers, panties, underwear
• Bedaine de bièrebeer belly
• Un charcar
• Une champluretap
• Un chien-chaudhot dog
• Un clavardagechat
• Fin(m)/Fine(f)Nice/Sweet!
• Frencherto french kiss
• Jaserto chat
• Une laveusewashing machine
• Une liqueur
  *Be careful of this false friend.soda
• Magasinage
  *Literally magasin (shop) & the suffix -age to show the action of shoppingshopping
• Ma blondemy girlfriend
• Un robeur
  *From the English word rubberrubber; rubber band
• Stacose
  *Comes from c’est à cause de / c’est à cause quebecause

Common Québécois Phrases

• Attache ta tuque!
  *A tuque is a Canadian word for beanieHold on tight!
• Avoir la langue à terre
  *Literally to have one’s tongue on the groundto be exhausted
• Avoir des papillons dans l’estomacto have butterflies in your stomach
• Avoir le feu au cul
  *Literally to have fire in one’s butt
  *Cul is quite vulgar as a word for someone’s buttocksto be in a big hurry (also: to be horny)
• Avoir des vers dans le cul
  *Literally to have worms in the buttto have ants in your pants
• Avoir la fly à l’airto have your fly open
• Avoir du front tout le tour de la têteto have some nerve
• Avoir son voyageto be at the end of your tether
• Avoir mal aux cheveux
  *Literally to have a hair acheto have a terrible hangover
• Avoir les shakesto have the shakes/to be scared
• Arrête de faire le boss de bécosses!
  *Literally stop acting like the boss of the toiletsStop acting like the boss!
• Caller l’orignalto puke/to vomit
• C’est le fun!It’s awesome!
• Chauffer le char
  *Chauffer can mean “to drive” in Québec Frenchto drive the car
• C’est tiguidou!It’s all good!
• Ça a pas d’allure!
  *Allure has a different meaning in EnglishIt makes no sense at all!
• Ça vient de s’éteindreperiod, end of story
• Chu dans marde!I’m in trouble!
• Calme toé!Relax!
• Déguédine!Hurry up!
• Drette làRight here
• Dur de comprenureSlow on the uptake
• Être vite sur ses patins
  *Literally to be quick on one’s skatesto be quick off the mark
• Fais pas ta neuve!Don’t put on airs!
• Faire du pouce
  *Literally means to make some thumbto hitchhike
• Faire du trainto make a lot of noise
• Franchement Armand!Seriously, come on!
• J’aime le way qu’à hangI like your look
• Je vais aller mailer ma lettreI’m going to mail my letter
• Il fait frette!It’s freezing!
• Mets-enTotally/For sure
• T’as pas rapportYou’re not making sense
• T’es ben chixYou’re hot
• T’es faite à l’osYou’re dead meat
• T’es tellement meanYou’re so mean
• Tire-toi une bûche
  *Literally means to pull yourself up a logTake a seat
• Tu me prends pour une valise?
  *Literally you take me for a suitcase (which can be filled with anything)You take me for a fool/gullible person?
• Se calmer le pomponto stay cool

Québécois Swear Words and Curses

A large amount of Québécois slang, as well as many swear words, comes from the terminology and rites of the Roman Catholic Church. Historically, Quebec has very strong ties to the Catholic faith. This has resulted in some very colorful and at times, highly blasphemous phrases and sayings.

• Calisse
  *A blasphemous word referring to chaliceHoly fuck
• Chalice de Crisse!
  *Literally the Chalice of ChristDamn it!
• Crisse!Christ!
• Osti!
  *This word comes from hostie, the bread eaten during Catholic Mass
  *It can also refer to the F-wordDamn it!
• Osti de calisse de ciboire de tabarnak
  *This highly blasphemous saying translates to host, chalice, ciborium, tabernacleHoly shit/Fucking hell
• Sacrament!
  *A Catholic riteDammit!
• TabarnakFuck!

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this ride through a brief history of Quebec, and the vocabulary, phrases and swear words of Québécois.

What are your favorite words and phrases? Have you been to Quebec? What other phrases have you heard?