There are various lexical differences between Quebec French and Metropolitan French in France. These are distributed throughout the registers, from slang to formal usage.
Notwithstanding Acadian French in the Maritime Provinces, Quebec French is the dominant form of French throughout Canada, with only very limited interregional variations. The terms Quebec French and Canadian French are therefore often used interchangeably.
Standardization The Office québécois de la langue française believes that neither morphology nor syntax should be different between Québécois and Metropolitan French, and even that phonetic differences should be kept to a minimum. However, starting in the 1960s, it agreed to the use of words then called "well-formed Canadianisms ()," that either are regional in nature (such as names of plants and animals), have been used since before the Conquest, or are justified in their origin and are considered to be equivalent or "better" than the standard equivalent.
A very small list of words was published in 1969, mainly containing words that were archaic in France, but still common in Quebec. This list especially contained imperial units and words from aboriginal languages. Subsequent lists have been published regularly since then.
Many differences that exist between Quebec French and European French arise from the preservation of certain forms that are today archaic in Europe. New words were also created for Quebec specialties that do not exist in Europe.
As with any two regional variants, there is an abundance of slang terms found in Quebec that are not found in France. Quebec French profanity uses references to Catholic liturgical terminology, rather than the references to prostitution that are more common in France. Many English words and calques have also been integrated in Quebec French, although less than in France. In Quebec, borrowed English words tend to have the same meaning as the English word. In France, they often have a very different meaning; for example for . Borrowing from English is politically sensitive in Quebec and tends to be socially discouraged.
Gender-neutral usage
Formal Quebec French also has a very different approach to gender-neutral language than Metropolitan French. There is a much greater tendency to generalize feminine markers among nouns referring to professions. This is done in order to avoid having to refer to a woman with a masculine noun, and thereby seeming to suggest that a particular profession is primarily masculine. Forms that would be seen as highly unusual in France are commonplace in Quebec, such as , , , , and so forth. Many of these have been formally recommended by the and adopted by society at large. Official government and state titles and designations always have official, mandated French equivalent terms for each gender.
Also, rather than following the rule that the masculine includes the feminine, it is relatively common to create doublets, especially in polemical speech: , .
As an isolated anecdote, a Quebec labour union once decided to promulgate an epicene neologism on the model of , calling itself the , rather than use either (masculine only) or (masculine and feminine). This sparked a fair amount of debate and is rather on the outer edge of techniques for nonsexist writing in Quebec French.
In 2025, the Quebec minister for French language announced that the provincial government and municipal governments would be directed to cease using gender-inclusive suffixes, alternatives, and doublets in official communications.
Morphology (word formation)
Some suffixes are more productive in Quebec than in France, in particular the adjectival suffix , which has a somewhat pejorative meaning: → (), → (); → (); → (). This originates in the Norman language.
The adjectival suffix is added to verbal stems to form "the machine that verbs." For example, → ; → (but in France). In France is .
Quebec FrenchEnglishMetropolitan FrenchNoteassartblack bassacreIn Louisiana, an is still a legal unit of measurement, and is not the same as an acre. Here, is used both as a measure of length as well as area. Land was traditionally surveyed to either 40 or 80 back from a river or bayou (1.5 or 3 miles). For measuring area, a square (English) mile contains 640 acres, but 512 .peanutcranberryIn Quebec, usually denotes the fruit itself as well as the cranberry juice, whereas usually refers to the cranberry jelly traditionally eaten with the Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey. In France is also used for lingonberry; shops selling cranberries imported from Canada increasingly label them .aircraft manufacturing plantsnow bankto lockFrench colonists would use a crossbar to secure the entrance to their dwelling. Hence, barring rather than locking the door.to unlockbugIn France, the term refers to a man's phallus. is not used in Quebec, though French terms such as this are recognized more and more. The younger Québécois generation can often use their own native terms and French terms alternately. The French on the other hand are more rarely exposed to Quebec French and so are less "accepting" of such deviations.bicyclelowbush/wild blueberriesSee Quebec specialities sectionblueberry field or farmIce stuck to the bank of a river. Often used to designate the slushy mix of ice and snow pushed to the side of the road by snow plows.Jostling of ice under the effect of winds, tides, or streamsnoseeumsA type of cranefly / tiny fly that causes a burning sensation when it bites, thus the name.nightfall/dusksugar shacklong-tailed duckA type of wild duckwolverine (Am.), glutton (Br.)Assumption sashpint is used in Canada, but refers to a quartbackwoodsman, fur trader, lumberjackfacecloth (glove)half-pintconvenience store/corner storeA small store serving the local community. Many are open 24/7 and have a gas station attached to them.walleye / blue pike perch / saugercorn roastDesignates a social gathering where people husk and eat corn / - maple groveweekendparking lot (Am.), car park (Br.)The word is the French word, but in France many words are replaced with the English equivalent when it is shorter.fragile iceCommon loonA type of bird typically found in lakes and ponds. In Canada, this bird is found on one dollar coins and is alternatively used to designate one dollar coins.shopping, to go shoppingThe word for or in all varieties of French is . In Quebec, the verb is used for , and was naturally created by simply converting the noun. In France, the expression is either , , , or . No single verb exists as does in Quebec.mosquitomileagemoose (Am.), elk (Br.)The word moose is also used in Britain by many.freshwater salmonbullfrogCanada gooseblowing snowEastern hemlocksnowshoersnowblowerIn Quebec, is a snowplow, though the term is mainly used for .eastern chipmunkAlso sometimes called because when compared, it is smaller than a squirrel.a couch potatofrom + maple taffyferryboattuquetuxedo (Am.), dinner jacket (Br.)In Quebec, the word is used to describe a dinner or evening jacket distinguished primarily by satin or grosgrain facings on the jacket's lapels and buttons and a similar stripe along the outseam of the trousers. The word is generally used to refer to a tuxedo in France. yardAs in , literally living room
Preservation of forms Many differences that exist between Quebec French and Metropolitan French arise from the preservation of certain forms that are today archaic in Europe. For example, for ( in France).
in Quebec is a backyard ( in French), whereas in France has dropped this meaning and primarily refers to a courtyard (as well as other meanings like ). However, in some areas of France, such as in the mining regions of northern France, still means .
The word is used for in addition to ; this is an old French usage () from which the English beverage originates. may be used in European French, but generally indicates some nuance, possibly pejorative.
The word or , a slang term for a dollar (equivalent to buck in English), was in fact the term originally used in French for the American or Spanish dollar (they had the same value for a long period).
The word is used in standard French as a masculine noun (, married or unmarried), but in Quebec it is also used as a feminine noun in phrases like (a couple of weeks). This is often thought to be an anglicism, but is in fact a preservation of an archaic French usage.
It is quite common in Quebec French to describe something positive using litotes, such as () for or () for when standard French would suggest using the positive equivalent instead. However, Metropolitan French has its own commonly used litotes: or (); (); (); and , or ().
Prepositions The preposition is often used in possessive contexts, whereas standard French uses ; () instead of . This is also found in the informal French of France, such as ().
In a number of cases, Quebec speakers prefer to use the preposition instead of using a non-prepositional phrase with ; for example or instead of and ( and ). Note also , pronounced and sometimes spelt or (literally ) for and , which is also found in Queneau. These usages of are considered colloquial.
Nautical terms A number of terms that in other French-speaking regions are exclusively nautical are used in wider contexts in Quebec. This is often attributed to the original arrival of French immigrants by ship, and to the dominance of the Saint Lawrence River as the principal means of transport among the major settlements of the region in the past centuries. An example is the word , which in Quebec means to get off any conveyance (a car, a train); in France, this word means only to disembark from a ship or aircraft ( from other vehicles), plus some colloquial uses. Another example would be for (in French it would mean , or a mop made of ropes and used on a ship. A regular house mop would be called ).
Political terms Since Canada uses the Westminster system, unlike republican France, many political terms devised in English have had to be imported or new terms created. This is can lead to awkward constructions, the most famous example being Dominion, for which there is no French translation. In Canadian English, the first minister of the federation is called the Prime Minister and the first minister of a province is called a Premier. However, Quebec French makes no distinction and both are called in all cases. An electoral district in Canada is called a riding in anglophone Canada but a in Quebec.
Quebec specialties There are also words for Quebec specialties that do not exist in Europe, for example , , (a Canadianism in both official languages), and (; in France is a mechanic who comes in to repair a car or a household appliance, which is called a in Quebec).
Blueberries, abundant in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, are called ; in France, they are lumped together with (bilberries) and refers to cornflower. ( is also slang for someone from Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.) Although very similar, these are not the same plants (i.e. are Vaccinium myrtillus and are Vaccinium angustifolium or corymbosum).
Informality