The Great Canadian Practice your French Thread

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I was out to the Shenkman complex this past summer - amazing to see such an extensive cultural facility out in the middle of suburban nothingness.

Well there are over 100,000 people in Orleans alone.

What's more depressing is that the mini-downtown it's located in has never really taken off. And perhaps never will given the gargantuan big box strip they've allowed to develop along Innes Road.

[Dengler Avenue]

So I decided to do it, after all:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...36#post8438036

[mintzilla]

How common is the subjunctive tense of verbs. I am going over it now and it seems to have more rules than all the other tenses combined. I don’t know how I will be able to remember all this. Ça me rend triste ������

[rousseau]

In my local supermarket. How is it that "ta-da" didn't get translated as "voilà"? Wouldn't that have been the obvious choice?

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by rousseau

In my local supermarket. How is it that "ta-da" didn't get translated as "voilà"? Wouldn't that have been the obvious choice?

Selon moi, ils auraient pu terminer avec ''Et voilà!''
''TA-DA'' me semble pas très commun comme terminaison, mais un magicien qui termine son tour pourrait utiliser ça...sauf qu'en Français, je crois qu'on devrais plutôt dire ''TA-DAM''

[Martin Mtl]

Hum, I disagree. I’m french and we do say « ta-da ! » très souvent.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

Hum, I disagree. I’m french and we do say « ta-da ! » très souvent.

Yes, both "ta-da!" and "voilà!" would work in this context.

"Ta-da!" is an onomatopeia for a sound made by an orchestra, if I am not mistaken.

[Dengler Avenue]

Now that we’ve revived this thread, can someone teach me the following words in french and how they’re used?
Whatever - So there’s “n’importe quoi” and “quoi que ce soit” if I’m not mistaken. How are they used?
Whenever - Is it just “n’importe quand”, or are there other ways of saying it?
Whichever - What is this in French?
However (as in however you wanna do it) - How would you say it in French?

Also, what’s anyway, anyone, or anything in french?

I think you all know what i struggle with now.

Cheers.

[Martin Mtl]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Yes, both "ta-da!" and "voilà!" would work in this context.

"Ta-da!" is an onomatopeia for a sound made by an orchestra, if I am not mistaken.

I use "ta-da" in the context of unveiling something I made, like a dish, or a bouquet, or anything. It acts like a curtain rising if you will. Magicians would also say it at the moment when he makes someone disappears, for exemple. It's very common in French, really.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

I use "ta-da" in the context of unveiling something I made, like a dish, or a bouquet, or anything. It acts like a curtain rising if you will. Magicians would also say it at the moment when he makes someone disappears, for exemple. It's very common in French, really.

If the French text had used “Et voilà”, I’d have been inclined to put something like “There ya go”. In English.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

If the French text had used “Et voilà”, I’d have been inclined to put something like “There ya go”. In English.

Bob's your uncle? (Robert est ton oncle?)

[Martin Mtl]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

If the French text had used “Et voilà”, I’d have been inclined to put something like “There ya go”. In English.

Absolutely!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Now that we’ve revived this thread, can someone teach me the following words in french and how they’re used?
Whatever - So there’s “n’importe quoi” and “quoi que ce soit” if I’m not mistaken. How are they used?
Whenever - Is it just “n’importe quand”, or are there other ways of saying it?
Whichever - What is this in French?
However (as in however you wanna do it) - How would you say it in French?

Also, what’s anyway, anyone, or anything in french?

I think you all know what i struggle with now.

Cheers.

No one's answering you, so I will give it a shot. These answers are just intuitive and quickly jotted down. I haven't checked a grammar book.

Whatever - n'importe quoi (you may also hear something that sounds like "ouadeveux" in French, especially at the end of a sentence "...ou ouadeveux")
Whenever - n'importe quand
However - peu importe (comment)
Whichever - peu importe lequel
Anyway - en tout cas (you may also hear "anyway" in French)
Anyone - n'importe qui
Anything - n'importe quoi
Anything at all - quoi que ce soit

[Dengler Avenue]

Thanks!

Ps: When I saw "ouadeveux", it reminded me of the time when you wrote "ouate de ph*que".

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Thanks!

Ps: When I saw "ouadeveux", it reminded me of the time when you wrote "ouate de ph*que".

As I said it's often tacked on to the end of a sentence with an enumeration.

Like: "Oui on devrait s'organiser pour faire quelque chose ensemble... aller prendre un verre, manger une bouchée, ou ouadeveux (whatever)..."

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Whatever - So there’s “n’importe quoi” and “quoi que ce soit” if I’m not mistaken. How are they used?

"Quoi que ce soit" translates to "anything" but in a more specific, generally negative context.

To illustrate:

Let's say we're at Tim Hortons' together and you offer to order some food for me, and you ask what I want. I could say "N'importe quoi, tout ici est à peu près aussi mauvais de toute façon" (in Québécoispeak, in practice it's more likely to be "n'importe quoi, tout ici est à peu près aussi mauvais anyway"), or I could also say "Pas question que je mange quoi que ce soit d'ici! beurk!!!"

[MolsonExport]

Québecois French Dialect
Dépanneur (i.e., the place for beer/smokes)
Stationnement (parking: elsewhere in French-speaking, it is “le Parking”)
Arrête (for Stop (reriving): elsewhere in French-speaking, it is “Stop”)
Magasinage (Shopping, proper would be “faire les magasins))
Huard/Piastre (slang for Loonie/Dollar…proper would be “Dollar”)
Tuque (tuque, instead of “bonnet”)
Patate (potato, proper is pomme de terre))
Patates-frites (fries, proper is pommes de terre frites)
Jaser (pronounced Jah-zé, slang for to “chat”)
Péquiste (person who votes for/sympathizes with the Parti Québecois)
Mets-en (“for sure”)
Bienvenue (for “welcome”, instead of “il n’y a pas de quoi” [don’t mention it]) or “de riens” [it’s nothing], bienvenue is supposed to mean “welcome to” as in a place, but used improperly in Québec)

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

As I said it's often tacked on to the end of a sentence with an enumeration.

Like: "Oui on devrait s'organiser pour faire quelque chose ensemble... aller prendre un verre, manger une bouchée, ou ouadeveux (whatever)..."

Similar to how an "anyway" would end a sentence (see example above).

Though _we_ do it all the time, I think it'd look bad if an Anglo did (i.e. it would suggest lacking language skills). That's always how it sounds like to me ouenever my gf lets English words slip when speaking in French.

[MolsonExport]

Joual (Québecois street french [aka gutter French, spoken in working-class Montreal])
Moé (instead of Moi)
Toé (instead of Toi)
Ouais (instead of Oui)
Icitte (instead of ici)
Fa que (therefore, or so, instead of proper “donc”)
Bécik (bicycle)
[mon] Chum (boyfriend)
[ma] Blonde (girlfriend)
Frette (cold…instead of the proper “froid”)
Mecs/mec (“guys”/”guy”)
Poutine (a bastardization of the English “Pudding”)
Check ben ça (“take a look at this, or check this out)
Plate (pronounced plattt, means “boring”)
Plotte (vulgar, for pussy, which would be “chatte”)
Tête-carré (English person)
Bloke (English Person)
Patate or Gros Patate (a fat girl)
Maudit Anglais (Goddamn English person)
Hein? (Aye? Excuse Me? What?)

[MolsonExport]

Franglais/Frenglish
Beurre de Pinotte (Peanut butter, proper is “Beurre d’arachides”or “Beurre de cacahuète”)
Le Weekend (as you would think, instead of “fin de semaine” the latter is actually more common in Québec than in France)
Le Smoked Meat (instead of the proper “Viande Fumée)
Un Milkshake Vanille/au Chocolat (instead of the proper Lait Frappé Vanille/au Chocolat)
Eniway (“anyway” instead of “en tout cas”)
All Dressed (pronounced “Aaawlll Draayssse” as in All Dressed Pizza/Hotdogs/Hamburgers, instead of “tout garnie”): Deux Hotdogs steamés All Dressed (steamé is borrowed from English instead of proper “au vapeur”)
Des toasts (toast, instead of the proper “Rotis”)
Bines (beans instead of “haricots”)
Domper (to dump, instead of proper “décharge’”)
Les States (pronounced lay Stett, instead of les États-Unis)