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20 votes
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Words ending on i/u, spoken with (IPA) [ɪç] – is there a system?

Look up "phrase-final vowel devoicing" for scientific articles on the subject. It's a relatively recent phenomenon in European French, whereby the vocal folds stop vibrating halfway through ...
Eau qui dort's user avatar
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17 votes
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"Je vais te me les disperser" ?

As far as most French grammar books are concerned, this form of double ethical dative doesn't exist. However, the reality is that it is definitely understood by native French and still used in ...
jlliagre's user avatar
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17 votes

What's the word equivalent to, "Announcement! Announcement!" or "Attention! Attention!"

That's certainly: Chères clientes, chers clients ! (Dear customers) The expression is not specific to Switzerland.
jlliagre's user avatar
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16 votes
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Seeking colloquialism for “just because”

I suggest : Oh, comme ça. Oh, juste comme ça. A possibly cheekier, less idiomatic translation would be : Oh, parce que. Bah, parce que.
mcadorel's user avatar
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13 votes

She is doing it!

I think those are the closest translations: « Elle/Il va le faire ! » - She/He's going to do it! « Elle/Il va y arriver ! » - She/He's going to do it! « Elle/Il peut le faire ! » - She/He can do it! ...
Ronan Boiteau's user avatar
13 votes

Does French have the English "short i" vowel?

No, standard French does not have the vowel /ɪ/ (near-close front unrounded vowel), which is the English “short i”. The vowel which is normally written with the letter I in French is a close front ...
Gilles 'SO nous est hostile''s user avatar
12 votes

Francophones seem to end sentences of emotion with "quoi"?

That kind of "quoi" is what is called a discourse marker, a particule intended to convey a speaker's attitude to the conversation, or to signal something to the interlocutor. A few other common ...
Eau qui dort's user avatar
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11 votes

Does French have the English "short i" vowel?

The French generally spoken in France does not have [ɪ] either phonemically or phonetically, and to my knowledge no variety of French would use it for the first vowel in « s'il vous plait » (though ...
Luke Sawczak's user avatar
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11 votes

Que disent les français pour se corriger en parlant ?

Dans la conversation courante : J'ai acheté du lait — euh, du pain. J'ai acheté du lait — enfin, du pain. Je veux dire s'emploie aussi volontiers : 'j'ai acheté du lait — euh, je veux dire, du ...
mcadorel's user avatar
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10 votes

How do you say 1.000.001 in French?

In most use cases, there would be no ambiguity. The context will generally rule out the strictly correct option if you talk about prices or actual quantities : Cette maison coûte un million deux. ...
jlliagre's user avatar
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10 votes
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Most idiomatic way to say "Could you repeat that?"

Plait-il ? / Plaît-il ? formal, outdated (or nowadays often humorous, ironical or sarcastic) Pourriez-vous répéter [, s'il vous plait (or plaît)] ? is very formal Pouvez-vous répéter [, s'il vous ...
jlliagre's user avatar
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10 votes

Ways to tell a person to be quiet

Ferme-la ! (or La ferme !) is very rude although you might be even more rude with Tu vas la fermer ta gueule ! or just Ta gueule !. Tais-toi ! or Taisez-vous ! is only acceptable if you are talking to ...
jlliagre's user avatar
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10 votes

Tartuffe de Molière : "Raijon" et "fiche"

L'explication est clairement indiquée après le texte en question : qui avait un énorme morceau de patisserie dans la bouche. Mme Pernelle, dans cette très libre interprétation de l’œuvre originale ...
jlliagre's user avatar
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10 votes

Les différents langages du français

Comme l'écrivait déjà Louis Meigret en 1530 : Nous écrivons un langage qui n'est point en usage, et usons d'une langue qui n'a point d'écriture en France. Cité par Bernard Cerquiglini, L'accent ...
jlliagre's user avatar
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9 votes
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Feu orange ou feu jaune ?

Vivant dans le Nord-Est de la France je n'ai jamais entendu un particulier utiliser "feu jaune". Par contre "feu orange" est couramment employé. On parle même d'"orange mûr" quand on passe au moment ...
Sir_Glancelot_du_Lag's user avatar
9 votes

"Je vais te me les disperser" ?

It's also know as "dative of interest". It's mostly an emphatical marker common in French, but also used as a way to "call in" someone: Regarde-moi ça!, "Look at it!" has an additional "call-out" ...
Circeus's user avatar
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9 votes

Is it natural to use “quoi” at the end of a sentence in texting?

Yes, phatic quoi looks absolutely OK in a text. As a general rule of thumb, whatever sounds right in speech will look fine in a text message or online chat. Examples that would make completely legit ...
mcadorel's user avatar
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9 votes

Fast spoken French: Is "pour" removed in "Selon moi, pour se changer..."?

I'm pretty sure this is just some issue with audio editing of this recording. This is obviously an edited track, and it seems the person assembling these bits of audio together just started this bit (...
Laurent S.'s user avatar
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8 votes

De « je suis » à « ch'u » ?

Il y a deux évolutions de prononciation séparées, là : d'un coté la fusion des consonnes initiales de je et suis ; de l'autre la fusion de la semi-voyelle et de la voyelle de suis. Le premier ...
Eau qui dort's user avatar
  • 9,591
8 votes

What are the French “language buffer” words (aka “filler words”)?

This Wikipedia article about filler words lists the following ones for French (emphasis mine): euh /ø/ is most common; other words used as fillers include quoi ("what"), bah, ben ("well"), tu vois (...
Fabien Snauwaert's user avatar
8 votes

What are the French “language buffer” words (aka “filler words”)?

I dunno about Europe, but in Quebec the standard filler words are tsé (for tu sais) and genre, the latter of which is usually seen as the lower-key one.
Circeus's user avatar
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8 votes

Est-ce qu'en français il existe des pronoms anciens ou spéciaux?

Icelle et ses dérivés sont assez sympathiques : l'ancêtre de celle-ci et ses acolytes peuvent être utilisés de nos jours et seront parfaitement entendus.
Personne's user avatar
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8 votes
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French movies/videos with French subtitles

There is an amazing site called Les films français avec sous-titres where one may find a plethora of films to watch of different genres (comedies, dramas, adventures and the like). Very useful: TEDx ...
Dimitris's user avatar
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8 votes
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« Putain », « merde » et « bordel » : sont-ils grossiers ?

All of them (putain, bordel, merde) are clearly rude words, and are far from being considered acceptable in all situations, or as words from a standard register. For instance, none of these would be ...
iNyar's user avatar
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8 votes

D'où vient ce T de liaison? → Je suis à l'heure > Ch't'à l'heure

L'usage incorrect d'un T au lieu d'un Z de liaison est appelé cuir (l'inverse est un velours). "Pataquès" est le nom du phénomène dans son ensemble. Ici, le -t- apparaît pour les mêmes raisons que ...
Circeus's user avatar
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7 votes
Accepted

French radio communication language

copy that / roger that -> Reçu ! or Bien reçu ! over -> À vous !, or Parlez !, or Transmettez ! over and out -> Terminé ! do you read me? -> Est-ce que vous me recevez ? or Essai radio ! yes/no -> ...
jlliagre's user avatar
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