Most Used French Canadian Words

And because of its isolation from France during the British rule in the 1700s, some words are used in Quebec, yet have no longer been used in France for decades or centuries. For example, the verb “pogner” comes from the word “la pogne”, which is an old Metropolitan French word meaning “la main” (the hand).

List of Quebec French words and their equivalent in Metropolitan French

Le chandail

Note that Québécois will perfectly understand Metropolitan French words. But they will prefer to use the Quebec French word in everyday conversations with other francophones from Quebec.

Most Used French Canadian Words - 1

Canadian Suffixes

Le flanage

Québécois tend to use more suffixes than French people, in particular suffixes such as “–eux”, “-age” or “-able”:

Most Used French Canadian Words - 2

Words Borrowed From Other Languages

Anglicisms

La gomme

Québec French vocabulary is distinctive from Metropolitan French; primarily due to the strong influence of the English language upon it. Also called Anglicisms, the borrowed English words are even more obvious in spoken Québec French.

So just as French people, people from Quebec do use a lot of English words, yet they use different anglicisms:

Most Used French Canadian Words - 3

You will notice that Quebec French has words that are taken directly from English, which makes it very easy to memorize and use! (“la gomme”, “la job”, “c’est cute”)

Sometimes the English word has been changed to the point that it sounds like a French word:

Most Used French Canadian Words - 4

Attempts to limit the use of Anglicisms

Magasiner

However, with the Quiet Revolution, the nationalist sentiment in Quebec prompted French Canadians to want to limit the use of Anglicisms, especially in formal speeches. In spoken language, when Quebec French uses too many anglicisms, it is called “franglais”, and it is a derogatory term.

And that is why ‘L’Office de la Langue Française’ in Quebec regularly creates neologisms to limit the use of anglicism:

Most Used French Canadian Words - 5

Words borrowed from Amerindian languages

Le caribou

Words borrowed in Quebec French are not limited to English only. Some are borrowed from the Aboriginal languages to which early settlers were exposed during colonization:

Most Used French Canadian Words - 6