Editing Quebec French (section)

== Syntax ==
{{main|Quebec French syntax}}
Like other varieties, Quebec French is characterized by increasingly wide gaps between its formal and informal forms.<ref name="Waugh">{{cite web
 |url=http://slat.arizona.edu/sites/slat/files/page/linbonnie.pdf
 |title=Authentic materials for everyday spoken french: corpus linguistics vs. french textbooks
 |first=Linda
 |last=Waugh
 |publisher=University of Arizona
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141124194707/http://slat.arizona.edu/sites/slat/files/page/linbonnie.pdf
 |archive-date=November 24, 2014
}}</ref> Notable differences include the generalized use of ''on'' (informal for ''nous''), the use of single negations as opposed to double negations: ''J'ai pas'' (informal) vs ''Je n'ai pas'' (formal) etc.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/subject-pronouns/|title=French Subject Pronouns - Pronoms sujets|author=Laura K. Lawless|work=Lawless French|access-date=11 February 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/informal-negation/|title=Informal French Negation - Pas without Ne|author=Laura K. Lawless|work=Lawless French|access-date=11 February 2016}}</ref> There are increasing differences between the [[syntax]] used in spoken Quebec French and that of other [[Dialects of the French language|regional dialects of French]].<ref>{{cite journal
 |last = Barbaud
 |first = Philippe 
 |date = 1998
 |title = Dissidence du français québécois et évolution dialectale
 |language = fr
 |location = Montréal
 |publisher = Université du Québec à Montréal
 |journal = Revue québécoise de linguistique
 |volume = 26
 |issue = 2
 |pages = 107–128
 |doi = 10.7202/603156ar 
 |url = http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r21354/DISSIDENCE.pdf
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070614075250/http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r21354/DISSIDENCE.pdf
 |archive-date = 14 June 2007
}}</ref> However, the characteristic differences of Quebec French syntax are not considered standard despite their high-frequency in everyday, relaxed speech.

One far-reaching difference is the weakening of the syntactic role of the [[Specifier (linguistics)|specifier]]s (both verbal and nominal), which results in many syntactic changes:
* [[Relative clause]]s (1) using ''que'' as an all-purpose [[relative pronoun]], or (2) embedding [[interrogative pronoun]]s instead of [[relative pronoun]]s (also found in informal European French):
*# ''J'ai trouvé le document'' que j'ai de besoin. ({{lang|fr|J'ai trouvé le document dont j'ai besoin}}.)   "I found / I've found the document I need."
*# ''Je comprends'' qu'est-ce que ''tu veux dire. (Je comprends ce que tu veux dire.)'' "I understand what you mean."
* Omission of the prepositions that [[Collocation|collocate]] with certain verbs:
** ''J'ai un enfant'' à m'occuper. ([[Standard French]]: ''s'occuper'' de; ''J'ai un enfant dont je dois m'occuper.'') "I have a child (I need) to take care of."
* [[Plural]] conditioned by semantics:
** ''La plupart du monde'' sont ''tannés des taxes. (La plupart du monde est tanné des taxes.)'' "Most people are fed up with taxes."
* A phenomenon throughout the Francophonie, dropping the ''ne'' of the double negative is accompanied, in Quebec French, by a change in word order (1), and (2) [[clitic|postcliticisation]] of direct pronouns (3) along with euphonic insertion of [z] [[Liaison (French)|liaisons]] to avoid vowel [[Hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]]. This word order is also found in non-standard European French.
*# ''Donne-moi-le pas. (Ne me le donne pas.)'' "Don't give it to me."
*# ''Dis-moi pas de m'en aller! (Ne me dis pas de m'en aller)'' "Don't tell me to go away!"
*# ''Donne-moi-z-en pas ! (Ne m'en donne pas!)'' "Don't give me any!"

Other notable syntactic changes in Quebec French include the following:
* Use of non-standard verbal [[periphrasis]], (many of them archaisms):
** J'étais pour ''te le dire. (J'allais te le dire. / J'étais sur le point de te le dire.)'' "I was going to/about to tell you about it." (old European French but still used in e.g. [[Haiti]])
** Avoir su, ''j'aurais... (Si j'avais su, j'aurais...)'' "Had I known, I would have..."
** Mais que ''l'hiver finisse, je vais partir. (Dès que l'hiver finira, je partirai.)'' "As soon as winter ends, I will leave."
* [[Grammatical particle|Particle]] ''-tu'' used (1) to form [[tag question]]s, (2) sometimes to express exclamative sentences and (3) at other times it is used with excess, for instance (note that this is common throughout European French via the addition of -t'y or -tu):
** ''C'est-tu prêt? (Est-ce prêt? / C'est prêt? / Est-ce que c'est prêt?)'' "Is it ready?"
** ''Vous voulez-tu manger? (Vous voulez manger?)'' "Do you want to eat?"
** ''On a-tu bien mangé! (Qu'est-ce qu'on a bien mangé!)'' "We ate well, didn't we?"
** ''T'as-tu pris tes pilules? (Est-ce que tu as pris tes médicaments?)'' "Have you taken your medications?"
** This particle is ''-ti'' (from Standard French ''-t-il'', often rendered as [t͡si]) in most varieties of North American French outside Quebec as well as in European varieties of ''français populaire'' as already noted by Gaston Paris.{{sfn|Meyer|Paris|1877|pages=438–442}} It is also found in the non-creole speech on the island of [[Saint-Barthelemy]] in the Caribbean.
* Extensive use of [[litotes]] (also common in informal European French):
** ''Il fait pas chaud! (Il fait frais!)'' "It is not all too warm out!"
** ''C'est pas laid pantoute! (Ce n'est pas laid du tout!)'' "Isn't this nice!" (literally: "This is not ugly at all.")
** ''Comment vas-tu? - Pas pire, pas pire.'' "How are you? - Not bad. Not bad at all"

However, these features are common to all the basilectal varieties of ''français populaire'' descended from the 17th century koiné of Paris.
* Use of diminutives (also very common in European French):
** ''Tu prendrais-tu un p'tit café? Une p'tite bière?'' "Would you like to have a coffee? A beer?"