French for Travelers

Why a little French goes a long way

Quebec is the only province where French is the sole official language, and about three in four Quebecers grew up speaking it. For many of them, French is the core of a culture that has held on for four centuries as a small minority in an English-speaking continent. When you open with a few words of French, you are signaling that you know where you are. People notice, and the warmth you get back is real.

You do not need to be good at it. Nobody in a Montreal café expects an American to conjugate verbs. What lands badly is the opposite: walking up to a counter and launching straight into English as if you were in Vermont. Start in French, even with one word, and let the other person decide whether to switch. In tourist areas they almost always will.

New Brunswick is different again. It is officially bilingual, and nearly a third of its people are French-speaking Acadians, concentrated in the northeast, the Acadian Peninsula, the Madawaska region around Edmundston, and the Moncton area. You can get by in English almost anywhere there, but a bonjour in Caraquet or Shediac is just as appreciated. See New Brunswick and other French pockets below.

The "Bonjour-Hi" greeting and how to answer it

In Montreal shops you will often hear staff greet you with "Bonjour-Hi" in one breath. It is an invitation: pick a language and they will follow. Quebec's National Assembly passed a motion in 2017 urging merchants to greet customers with a plain bonjour, and you will hear that more in recent years, but the two-language greeting is still common downtown.

Here is the easy playbook:

1. Walk in and say "Bonjour" (or "Bonsoir" in the evening). Make eye contact. In Quebec this is basic courtesy, like saying hello to a host at home.
2. If you can manage it, order or ask in simple French. If not, follow with "Désolé, je parle un peu français. Do you speak English?" Asking politely beats assuming.
3. If they answer in English, carry on in English. That is not a rebuff. Montrealers switch languages all day long.
4. Close with "Merci, bonne journée" (thanks, have a good day). It is the most Québécois sign-off there is, and it takes two seconds.

How Quebec French differs from France French

If you studied French in school, you probably learned the France version. Quebec French shares the same grammar and spelling, and anyone from Paris can follow a conversation in Quebec City. The differences are in accent, everyday vocabulary and a more relaxed social register. Think of it like American and British English: same language, different flavor, and no one is "wrong."

Never tell a Quebecer their French is not "real French" or compare it unfavorably with France. Quebec French kept some older forms that France dropped, invented its own words, and in some areas is more careful than France about avoiding English loanwords. Quebec says courriel where France says "e-mail," stationnement where France says "le parking," and fin de semaine where France says "le week-end."

Words that will trip you up

Tu or vous?

French has two words for "you": the familiar tu and the polite vous. Quebecers use tu much more freely than people in France. A young server, a store clerk or a fellow hiker may say tu to you right away, and it is meant in a friendly way.

As a visitor, the safe default is vous with anyone older than you, with officials and police, in hotels and in nicer restaurants. If someone uses tu with you, you can return it. Getting this wrong will never offend anyone in Quebec; using vous just reads as polite.

Words to recognize but not use

Quebec's strongest swear words, the sacres, come from church vocabulary (words for the tabernacle, the chalice, the host). You will hear them in bars and at hockey games. Recognize them, laugh along if a friend uses one, but do not try them yourself; they land much harder than visitors expect.

Pronunciation in plain English

The respellings on this page use English sounds. Stress the syllable in capitals, though French stress is lighter and falls evenly, with a slight lift on the last syllable of a phrase. A few rules cover most of what you need:

• Final consonants are usually silent. Merci beaucoup is mair-SEE boh-KOO. The s in vous and the t in petit are silent unless the next word starts with a vowel.
• "Zh" is the s in "measure." Bonjour is bohn-ZHOOR, je is zhuh.
• Nasal vowels. Where you see "ohn," "ahn" or "an" in the respellings, let the sound go through your nose and do not fully pronounce the n. Bon is close to "bohn" with the n swallowed.
• The French u. Say "ee," then round your lips as if for "oo." This page writes it as "oo" or "ew"; you will be understood.
• The French r is made at the back of the throat, a little like clearing it gently. Many older Quebecers in the countryside still roll it at the front, so do not worry about yours.
• Quebec's "ts" and "dz." Before an i or u sound, Quebecers turn t into "ts" and d into "dz." Tu sounds like "tsoo," petit like "p'tsee," and dur (hard) like "dzoor." Once you know this, Quebec French gets much easier to follow.

Place names

Both versions are used by locals. English-speaking Montrealers say "mun-tree-AWL"; switching to the French pronunciation when you are speaking French is a nice touch.

Essential phrases

These cover most of a weekend in Montreal or Quebec City. The polite vous forms are used throughout.

Restaurants, cafés and menus

Restaurants are where you will use French most. Service in Quebec runs much like at home: you are seated, you order, and the server brings a card terminal to the table at the end. Tipping follows US habits, roughly 15 to 20 percent before tax, and the terminal will prompt you; see Money for details and Food for what to order.

Menu terms to know

Shopping, directions and getting around

In shops

Asking the way

Health and emergencies

Dial 911 for police, fire or ambulance anywhere in Canada. Dispatchers in Quebec answer in French but will find English help; just say "English, please." For non-urgent medical questions, Quebec's Info-Santé 811 nurse line can help. Remember that as an American you are not covered by Quebec's health plan and will be billed at non-resident rates; see Health and Safety.

Hospital signs read Urgence for the emergency department. In Montreal, the McGill University Health Centre and the Jewish General Hospital operate comfortably in English. Pharmacists in Quebec can treat some minor conditions and are a good first stop; pharmacies such as Jean Coutu, Pharmaprix and Familiprix are everywhere.

Driving: road signs and parking

Quebec's road signs are in French only, though most use standard symbols you will recognize. The words below are the ones that matter. Speed limits are in km/h: typically 100 km/h (62 mph) on autoroutes, 90 km/h (56 mph) on main highways and 50 km/h (31 mph) or lower in towns. For rentals, winter tires, tolls and right-on-red rules, see Driving and Crossing the border.

Reading a Montreal parking sign

Montreal parking signs stack several rules on one pole, and they are a classic American headache. Days are abbreviated lun, mar, mer, jeu, ven, sam, dim (Monday through Sunday), times use the 24-hour clock (9 h – 17 h), and date ranges such as 1 avril – 1 déc mean the rule applies only in that season, often for street cleaning. A sign reserving parking for permit holders (sauf détenteurs de permis) is off-limits to you.

Quebec's language law and what it means for you

Quebec's Charter of the French Language, first passed in 1977, makes French the province's official language. In 2022 Quebec strengthened it with the law widely known as Bill 96, which made French the "official and common language" and phased in new rules through 2025. Visitors sometimes read alarming headlines about it. In practice, here is what it changes for you:

• Signs and storefronts. Since June 1, 2025, French must be "markedly predominant" on commercial signs, which in practice means French text taking up at least twice the space of any other language. English brand names can stay, but stores often add a French description. Expect fewer English words on storefronts, even downtown.
• A right to French, and English is still allowed. The law gives customers the right to be informed and served in French. It does not stop a business from serving you in English, and in hotels, restaurants and tourist sights English is still widely spoken.
• Contracts and paperwork. Standard-form contracts, such as a car rental agreement, must be offered in French first. You can ask for the English version after you have been given the French one.
• Websites and menus. Businesses must have French versions; many keep English ones too.
• Government services. Quebec public bodies generally work in French, but the rules allow other languages in specific situations, including for health, public safety and natural justice, for tourism services, and for people who live outside Quebec. The City of Montreal, for example, says visitors from outside the province can ask for service in another language, subject to staff availability.
• Penalties fall on businesses. Nothing in the law requires you, as a visitor, to speak French, and you will never be fined for speaking English.

Where English is common, and where it is not

Your experience will depend heavily on where you go. A rough guide:

New Brunswick and other French pockets

New Brunswick is Canada's only officially bilingual province, and you can get provincial government services in either English or French. Signs are often bilingual. Moncton and next-door Dieppe form a bilingual hub where you will hear both languages in one sentence: the local mix of Acadian French and English is called Chiac. The Acadian Peninsula (Caraquet, Shippagan, Lamèque) and Edmundston in the northwest are strongly French.

Acadian French is its own branch, separate from Quebec's, with older vocabulary and a distinct accent. The phrases on this page work fine there. If you are in Caraquet on August 15, National Acadian Day, you will see the Tintamarre, a loud, joyful street parade in the Acadian flag colors of blue, white and red with a gold star. See New Brunswick and PEI and Festivals.

French also survives in smaller communities elsewhere: Chéticamp on Nova Scotia's Cabot Trail and the Clare region near Yarmouth (see Nova Scotia), the Évangéline region of Prince Edward Island, eastern and northern Ontario, and Saint-Boniface in Winnipeg (see the Prairies). In all of these places, English is universal, but a bonjour is noticed.

Practice before you go

You do not need lessons. An hour of listening to Quebec voices before your trip will make the accent much less surprising.

• Download a translation app with offline French so it works without data in the countryside. Phone camera translation is excellent for menus and parking signs. See Staying connected.
• Try Mauril, a free app from CBC/Radio-Canada built for learning Canadian French using clips from Canadian TV and radio.
• Listen to ICI Radio-Canada Première or Quebec music on a streaming service on the drive north. Even passive listening helps your ear adjust.
• Learn the polite core: bonjour, s'il vous plaît, merci, excusez-moi, bonne journée. That alone changes how a day in Quebec feels.
• Save this page offline, or print the phrase tables from Printables.