Most French speakers don't live in France. This page shows how vocabulary, numbers and accents change from Montréal to Brussels, Geneva, Dakar and Abidjan.
By the end of this unit you can: understand accents from Québec to Dakar.
1Le français du Québec: Understand everyday Québécois words and sounds.
2Belgique et Suisse: Understand Belgian and Swiss numbers and expressions.
3Le français d'Afrique: Understand common words of West and Central African French.
4Nouchi et camfranglais: Recognise the urban youth codes of Abidjan and Cameroon.
5Les voix de la francophonie: Follow callers from five francophone countries on a radio show.
Grammar and usage, explained
Hearing Québec
Québécois French kept sounds and words from 17th- and 18th-century French, then grew alongside English. Listen for three things: t and d before i and u turn into « ts » and « dz » (tu dis sounds like « tsu dzis »); long vowels become diphthongs (père can sound like « paère »); and questions often add -tu: tu viens-tu ? = are you coming? None of this is incorrect: it's a standard variety with its own norms, used in parliament and on national TV.
Tu veux-tu un café ?Do you want a coffee?
Il fait frette à matin !It's freezing this morning!
Breakfast, lunch and supper
Québec, Belgium and Switzerland keep the older meal names: le déjeuner is breakfast, le dîner is lunch and le souper is the evening meal. In France the same words shifted: petit-déjeuner, déjeuner, dîner. So « on dîne à midi ? » is perfectly normal in Montréal, Liège or Lausanne.
On soupe à six heures.We have supper at six.
Numbers that make sense
France counts soixante-dix (sixty-ten) and quatre-vingt-dix (four-twenties-ten). Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland use the simpler septante and nonante, and some Swiss cantons add huitante for 80. Read a Brussels or Geneva price list, a Kinshasa newspaper or a Swiss train timetable and you'll meet them.
septante-deux72 (France: soixante-douze)
nonante-cinq95 (France: quatre-vingt-quinze)
Belgian French in the café
In Belgium, s'il vous plaît doubles as « here you are » when someone hands you something. Savoir often means « to be able to »: je ne sais pas venir = I can't come. Students live in un kot (a student room) and call on their GSM (mobile phone). In Switzerland, the mobile is un natel and ça joue means « that works ».
Votre café, s'il vous plaît.Here's your coffee.
Désolé, je ne sais pas venir ce soir.Sorry, I can't make it tonight.
The centre of gravity has moved
Most people who use French every day now live in Africa. African French is not « broken French »: it is a family of established varieties with their own words, documented by linguists and used in parliaments, newspapers and universities. Some words are new coinages (essencerie, cadeauter), some keep older French meanings (présentement), and some shift a French word's sense (gâter).
Le directeur est présentement en réunion.The director is in a meeting right now.
Ça va un peu.I'm doing OK. (Côte d'Ivoire: modest, not negative)
Words with a wink
Some African French words are playful and social. Deuxième bureau, literally « second office », is a humorous way to talk about a man's hidden relationship: it turns up in songs, comedy and gossip, but it's judgemental, so recognise it rather than use it. Ambianceur and on dit quoi ? are warm and friendly, and you'll hear them all the time.
– On dit quoi ? – On est là !– What's up? – All good!
Nouchi: Abidjan's street French
Nouchi grew up among young people in Abidjan from the late 1970s. It takes French grammar and fills it with words from Dioula, Baoulé, English and pure invention, and it spread through zouglou and coupé-décalé music. Today many Ivorians switch between nouchi, everyday Ivorian French and formal French depending on who they're talking to: register again.
On va s'enjailler ce soir !We're going to have a great time tonight!
Les môgôs sont là.The guys are here.
Camfranglais: three languages in one sentence
Cameroon has French and English as official languages, an English-based creole (Kamtok), and more than two hundred local languages. Camfranglais, used mostly by young urban Cameroonians, mixes them freely, often French grammar with English or creole words. English speakers will spot familiar words straight away. Like nouchi, it's an identity marker and a creative game, not a lack of French.
Je go tchop au quartier.I'm going to eat in the neighbourhood.
Ma nga m'a cadeauté une montre, je wanda !My girlfriend gave me a watch, I can't believe it!
Scene: a phone-in show
On the radio programme Mots du monde, the host asks listeners: « Quel mot de chez vous faut-il absolument connaître ? » Callers ring in from Montréal, Liège, Lausanne, Dakar and Douala. Work out what each one is saying.
Vocabulary: 25 words and phrases
Tap 🔊 to hear each one, recorded by a native-sounding French voice.
Le français du Québec
Listen
French
English
tantôt
earlier today / in a while (Québec)Points to a moment close to now, before or after. In Belgium, à tantôt = see you later. In France it sounds old-fashioned.
c'est le fun
it's fun (Québec)Fun rhymes with « bonne ». The opposite: c'est plate = it's boring.
bienvenue
you're welcome (Québec)Said in reply to merci, modelled on English. In France: de rien or je vous en prie.
pas pantoute
not at all (Québec)From pas en tout. J'ai pas faim pantoute = I'm not hungry at all.
fin de semaine(feminine)
weekend (Québec)France says le week-end. En fin de semaine = at the weekend.
Belgique et Suisse
Listen
French
English
septante
seventy (Belgium, Switzerland)Also used in DR Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. France says soixante-dix. Septante-cinq = 75.
eighty (parts of Switzerland)Used in the cantons of Vaud, Valais and Fribourg. Geneva and Belgium keep quatre-vingts.
s'il vous plaît
here you are (Belgium, when handing something over)A Belgian waiter puts your plate down with « s'il vous plaît ». In France you'd hear voilà or tenez.
une fois
(Belgian softener, like « just » or « a sec »)Viens une fois ici = come here a sec. French jokes about Belgians overdo it; real Belgians use it far less than the jokes suggest.
je ne sais pas venir
I can't come (Belgium)In Belgium, savoir often means « to be able », where France would say pouvoir.
drache(feminine)
downpour (Belgium)Il drache = it's pouring. The « drache nationale » is the Belgian joke that it always rains on the national day, 21 July.
ça joue ?
is that OK? does that work for you? (Switzerland)Ça joue ! = that's fine! Ça joue pas = that won't work.
Le français d'Afrique
Listen
French
English
gâter
to break, damage (West and Central Africa)Mon téléphone est gâté = my phone is broken. In France gâter means to spoil (a child, a surprise).
essencerie(feminine)
petrol station (Senegal)Built like boulangerie or papeterie, and often credited to President Senghor. France says station-service.
maquis(masculine)
open-air eatery (Côte d'Ivoire)Braised fish, attiéké, alloco and music, now all over West Africa. In France le maquis is scrubland, and the name of the WWII Resistance.
deuxième bureau(masculine)
a married man's secret girlfriend (colloquial)Heard across Central and West Africa, mostly in jokes, songs and gossip. Teasing and judgemental: keep it out of polite conversation.
cadeauter
to give (someone) a presentFormed from cadeau, widely used from Dakar to Kinshasa. France says offrir.
ambianceur / ambianceuse
life and soul of the partyFrom ambiance, which in much of Africa also means a lively party. Common in Congo, Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire.
Nouchi et camfranglais
Listen
French
English
môgô(masculine)
guy, person (nouchi)From Dioula. Les môgôs = people, the guys.
boucantier
show-off, flashy big spender (nouchi)From faire du boucan, to make a racket. Linked to the coupé-décalé music scene, which celebrates showing off.
tchop
to eat; food (Cameroon)From « chop », to eat, in Cameroon's English-based creole (Kamtok), also heard across English-speaking West Africa.
nga(feminine)
girlfriend (Cameroon)Camfranglais, familiar: used mostly by young people. From Cameroonian local languages. Ma nga = my girlfriend.
wanda
to be amazed (Cameroon)Camfranglais, familiar. From English « wonder ». Je wanda ! = I can't believe it!
je go
I'm off, I'm going (Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire)French subject + English verb: a typical camfranglais move. Je go au marché = I'm going to the market.
Example sentences
C'était vraiment le fun, ton party, merci !Your party was really fun, thanks!
Ça fait nonante-huit francs. Ça joue pour vous ?That's ninety-eight francs. Does that work for you?
On dit quoi ? On va au maquis ce soir ?What's up? Shall we go to the maquis tonight?
On va s'enjailler ce soir, mon môgô !We're going to have a great time tonight, my friend!
Merci pour l'appel ! — Bienvenue, et bonne fin de semaine !Thanks for the call! — You're welcome, and have a good weekend!
Practise it, don't just read it
This unit is part of French Ultimate's C2 course: 5 short lessons with an animated video each, speaking and listening practice, a reading and an end-of-unit test.