Beauté, entraînement et rôle de sexe symbole
B1 French listening practice · Québec French · Curated for intermediate learners
What does “avoir de la misère” mean in Quebec French?
Quebec French uses avoir de la misère (à) to mean “to have trouble” or “to have a hard time” doing something. J’ai pas de misère à croire (“I don’t have trouble believing it”), j’ai de la misère à comprendre (“I’m having a hard time understanding”). The Quebec sense surprises France French listeners, who associate misère with extreme poverty or wretchedness. France French would say j’ai du mal à for the same idea. The Quebec version is a reliable dialect tell, alongside en masse, écœurant (used positively in Quebec), and présentement (“currently”).
In this clip, a Quebec interviewer talks to a male model about training and body image: “J’ai tellement pas de misère à croire” (“I have no trouble at all believing it”).
Vocabulary frequency
How common is the vocabulary in this B1 French listening practice listening practice?
General French frequency
Spoken French frequency
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · Lexique 3.83 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.
- ▸In Quebec talk shows and interviews (Tout le monde en parle, Salut Bonjour)
- ▸In Quebec sitcoms (District 31, Les Pays d’en haut)
- ▸In Quebec pop music (Cœur de Pirate, Charlotte Cardin)
- ▸In Quebec parenting and family-life content
- ▸In Quebec workplace and customer-service everyday conversations