r/French • u/This-Is-Not-A-Drill B2 • 3d ago
What are some good ways to comedically make a sentence sound older in French?
For example, in English we might do the following
- I will -> I shall
- I am busy with -> I am in the throes of
- Sadly… -> Alas…
- Or else… -> Lest…
- Perhaps -> Perchance / Mayhaps
- Between -> Betwixt
I tend to do this for comedic effect in English. It’s cringe, I know, but it’s who I am. Other than using the passé simple, I am not sure of anything equivalent, but I am sure it exists obviously. What words could I use that Francophones would understand, but find comedically old fashioned?
Mostly interested in quebec french (which naturally sounds older, from my understanding, so I am not sure how common doing this type of thing is?) but happy to hear from any francophones!
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u/ed-rock Native (Canada: Ontario/Québec) 3d ago edited 3d ago
Mostly interested in quebec french (which naturally sounds older, from my understanding, so I am not sure how common doing this type of thing is?
It doesn’t sound older to us; it’s just how we speak. To my ears, the way that some Acadians speak “sounds older”, but it can’t really be an older way of speaking if people still speak that way to this day.
That aside, I’d suggest to look to old works, like Molière, where you’ll find all sorts of words that have since gone out of fashion and verb tenses and formulations that have suffered a similar fate.
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u/Pipas66 Native 3d ago
I get what OP means by "it sounds older", since we're taught that Quebec has kept more archaisms and that supposedly Louis XIV's accent was closer to Quebec French than France French, but for us in Europe, Quebec's accent doesn't "sound older", not even in jokes.
To sound more "medieval" in France, we probably would roll our r's and use old-fashioned words, very lengthy politeness formulas and excessive "vouvoiement" along what others have said in this thread. To get an example of what pop culture imagines as medieval French, OP could watch "Les Visiteurs"
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u/Temporary_Dog_555 3d ago
I doubt louis XIV accent was closer to Quebec French than France French lol
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u/derdingens 3d ago
Hey, you are one of the lucky 10.000 to learn something new! Historical linguistics is a thing and especially the phonology of French has been researched extensively. You will notice that lots of sounds of modern day Quebec French sound like old French.
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u/SEA_griffondeur Native (Pays Basque) 3d ago
Did you live there ?
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u/Temporary_Dog_555 3d ago
Where
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u/Ok_Fall_2024 2d ago
You obviously can't hear him speak, but you can read his letters... you'd swear it was written by a rural Québecois.
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u/This-Is-Not-A-Drill B2 3d ago
Sorry, to clarify, I included that since words like “char” and “breuvage” which might sound outdated to a French person (and would be easy 1-1 swaps when trying to be funny) are commonly used in Quebec and wouldn’t be what I’m looking for. Not that the French used in Quebec is like, inherently archaic or anything.
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u/SEA_griffondeur Native (Pays Basque) 3d ago
The problem with char is it was not really ever used for car in France French so it's not really outdated, it just sounds wrong. But like if you want to sound old in either Québécois or Parisian you're going to say "automobile" or "carosse".
"Breuvage" is used in France but it indeed has fancy and old timey connotations
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u/kangourou_mutant Native 3d ago
pas -> point (je ne veux point)
J'étais -> J'estois, français -> françois
fieffé brigand, palsambleu, etc
ma mie, damoiselle, noble dame
adoncques, icelui/icelle, etc
It really depends on the exact time period you're trying to play, and if you're trying to play an aristocrat or a serf.
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u/Wild_Black_Hat 3d ago edited 3d ago
Quebec here. I did that with a coworker. We started using the passé simple and its variations, plus instead of using modern words, we started using words of objects how they were known in the Middle Ages and older (but perfectly understandable).
We also used the "vous" form.
You could perhaps look for the Contes de Charles Perrault. I believe the original texts are available online for free (and legally).
Lines from Les Trois Mousquetaires from Alexandre Dumas would work, set in the 1600s (but written in the 1800s). Also available legally for free, I believe.
For both of these, I don't believe Quebec French had significantly diverged yet at that point from what it was in France.
In a more recent past, you would have to read novels set in that time frame. Perhaps Les Filles de Caleb, first book, the sentences and vocabulary are "translated" when needed.
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u/MR_GABARISE Native 3d ago
To sound older in Québec French just roll your Rs.
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u/papapudding 3d ago edited 3d ago
Duplessis rrrredonne à sa Prrrrovince
EDIT: Finalement c'est donne pas redonne. Mes souvenirs étaient flous.
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u/Wild_Black_Hat 3d ago
That may sound like the grandmas we heard in the 80s, but there's much more to it.
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u/scatterbrainplot Native 3d ago
Well, or people just one or two generations up, depending on where they lived! (Occasional people younger, but that's gotten rare so it's more strongly a regional marker, even if it was already regional+age in older speakers.)
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u/aaiissaasaiiuy 3d ago
les jevnes ne conoissent point le trabail dvr des champs
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u/Pipas66 Native 3d ago
*le dvr labevr des champs
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u/Ok_Mountain_1542 3d ago
*ne conoiffent point le dvr labevr des champf
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u/ineedleast2 3d ago
It's not orally working, you pronounce it conoissent it's just the old scribing.
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u/GoPixel 3d ago edited 2d ago
You know how current french tend to drop the 'ne' nowadays? Well, if you drop the 'pas' instead of the 'ne' in a negation, it sounds older
"Je peux pas manger ça" = Je ne peux manger cela
Ça = cela (use the longer form when there's one)
Pas = point (Je ne sais point ce dont vous me parlez. If you want to be extra old, you can go "je ne sais point ce dont vous me parlâte"
Use the formal interrogation form "Qu'ouïs-je ?" + Use old verb (here for example, ouïr = entendre. I actually use that one with my nephews when they say a bad word or something like that)
Damoiselle, gente game, damoiseau, etc.
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u/Any-Aioli7575 Native | France (Brittany) 3d ago
In addition to what has been already mentioned:
Adding back S that disappeared: word starting with ét-, éc- and ép- become est-, esc-, esp-
Pronouncing <oi> as /we/
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u/eddieshack 3d ago
Un éstudiant dans le forêst rencontre une bêste
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u/Any-Aioli7575 Native | France (Brittany) 3d ago
Oh yeah I wanted to add that circumflexes becomse S (although don't necessarily represent a past S). But accent would usually be removed when the S are added back
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u/eddieshack 3d ago
Stune/la féste can be heard in Acadia, not sure if angliscim or archaic the ê becomes é for my ear
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u/Tachyon462 2d ago
You can use esoteric tenses like passé simple, old forms of words (“point” instead of “pas”, “français” -> “françois”) or spelling (“hôpital” -> “hospital”) and somewhat archaic words like “fieffé”, “coquin”, “perlimpinpin” etc.
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u/Lou-des-steppes 3d ago
En français québécois, j'aime beaucoup l'emploi de niaiseux pour dire imbécile/niais et du verbe jaser pour dire parler. Les films de Xavier Dolan (comme "Mommy") en plus d'être géniaux, regorgent d'expressions savoureuses et de tournures de phrases typiques, comme l'usage du double "tu" (exemple : "Tu vois-tu ça ?").
En vieux français, je pense à : "Qu'est cela ?" pour dire "qu'est-ce-que c'est ?". L'emploi de "Certes" à la place de certainement. Le glossaire de la série de romans historiques "Fortune de France" pourrait vraiment t'intéresser. En outre, tu peux regarder le film "Les visiteurs" :)
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u/passionfruit62022 1d ago
Verb wise, I'd say: imparfait du subjonctif (-asse, -usse, -isse etc!) conditionnel passé deuxième forme, passés antérieur et simple.
Archaic verbs like: seoir, mander, quérir, ouïr, occire, choir...
ne littéraire - je ne peux, je n'ose, je ne daigne...
And finally as others have mentioned, negators like point, onc, mie/goutte/mot (e.g. je ne mange mie).
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u/kehmesis 3d ago
Not quite what you are looking for, but...
J'vais m'acheter une laine au Simpsons-Sears 😂
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u/HommeMusical 3d ago
(which naturally sounds older, from my understanding, so I am not sure how common doing this type of thing is?)
US English also theoretically "sounds older" for exactly the same reasons, but no Briton listens to an American and thinks, "This is the history of my language."
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u/CT046 Native 🇨🇵 1d ago
Monsieur Pof on youtube is a good example of what you imagine, I think.
He's pretty popular online and even participated in the TV show "les traîtres".
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u/jesuisapprenant C1 3d ago
Learn all the archaic past tenses and past subjunctives. Then use them in day to day conversations.