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Are the same words spelt differently between Québécois French and Parisian French?

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  • @Stephane: I thought québécois should be in capital too but when I looked it up in my Larousse dictionary app it was in lower case!
    – verve
    Jul 14, 2013 at 17:06
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    Ah, I followed the English usage since your sentence is in English. But yes in French adjectives are all lower-case, parisien as well. Jul 14, 2013 at 17:08
  • Really? I didn't know.
    – verve
    Jul 14, 2013 at 17:16

1 Answer 1

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Words that are shared by the French used by Quebecois and Parisians are usually not spelled differently.

Having answered the question, I will provide some other details that you may find helpful.


Many of the differences in the usage of French words in this context are found in speech and pronunciation. There are however, other important differences.

Constructions of sentences can differ between the two and they also use slightly different lexicons.

Here is an example of a lexical difference:

In France, the word that is most used for 'email' is 'mail'.

Example sentence: "Je vais envoyer un mail"

A word for this arose from Quebec: 'courriel'. This word is now considered an acceptable synonym in French, although depending on the location you will hear either.

Example sentence: "Je vais envoyer un courriel"

Here is a an example of difference in construction, lexicon, and pronunciation:

To express "I am here", there are different ways to do this and if you are in Paris, Quebec, and even in Acadian regions in New Brunswick. Let me explain....

In Paris one would most likely say: "Je suis là" or "Je suis ici", the former being the preferred.

In Quebec one would most likely say: "Je suis ici" and less often: "Je suis là".

In New Brunswick you will almost always hear: "Je suis ici". However! It is important to note that in New Brunswick, the pronunciation of 'ici' is quite different! 'Ici' in the Acadian variety of French is pronounced with a 't' sound on the end (ih-SIT).

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    It's not completely uncommon to hear (ih-SIT) in Montréal, though probably not when speaking to a non-native. Also, some people emphasize the pronunciation in written language by spelling voluntarily "incorrectly" (though this applies to any accent or dialect of French).
    – ARG
    Jul 16, 2013 at 8:19
  • You said that spelling is "usually" the same. Are there exceptions? If so, may we please have a list/examples?
    – Matt
    Feb 2, 2018 at 20:11

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