Swiss French

The French-speaking part of Switzerland is shown in green on this map.
Map of the Arpitan language area, historical language spoken in Romandie, with place names in arpitan and historic political divisions.

Swiss French (French: français de suisse) is the variety of French spoken in the French-speaking area of Switzerland known as Romandy. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, the others being German, Italian, and Romansch. As of 2012, around 1.8 million people in the country (22.6% of the population) spoke French as their primary language and around 29.1% of the population has working knowledge of French.[1]

The French language spoken in Switzerland differs very little from that of France or Belgium, with minor and mostly lexical differences. This is in contrast to differences between Standard German and Swiss German, in which differences create mutual unintelligibility between speakers of the two forms to the point that they are considered different languages.

The Swiss variant of French is characterized by some terms adopted from Franco-Provençal, a language formerly spoken largely across the alpine communities of Romandie and maintained by a minority today, as well as expressions borrowed from Swiss and Standard German. While Standard French is taught in schools and used in government, media, and business, there is no uniform vernacular form of French among the different cantons of Switzerland. This is exemplified by the usage of borrowed terms from German in regions bordering German-speaking communities to their complete absence by the French border area around Geneva.[2]

Differences between Swiss French and standard French

Many differences between Swiss French and French are due to the different administrative and political systems between Switzerland and France. Some of its distinctive lexical features are shared with Belgian French (and some also with Quebec French), such as:

Other examples which are not shared with other varieties of French:

Examples of words that differ between Swiss French and Standard French

Swiss French Standard French Translation Notes
action promotion Special Offer
adieu salut hey/bye In French, "adieu" means "farewell" and is generally never used except in cases where two people leave each other for the very last time. In Switzerland it is used as an informal general form of greeting when people meet or leave each other.
attique dernier étage last floor
bancomat guichet automatique bancaire ATM
biffer rayer/barrer quelque chose d'écrit to scratch/delete
bobet crétin (noun) or bête/stupide (adjective) idiot (noun) or stupid (adjective)
boguet mobylette moped
bonnard sympa or bien nice
bonne-main pourboire tip (gratuity) Literally means "good-hand".
borne hydrante bouche d'incendie fire hydrant
bourbine suisse-allemand Swiss-German
mascogner tricher aux examens cheat during exams
carnotzet cave à vin/cellier/fumoir Wine cellar This expression can seldom be found in French places close to Switzerland.
chenis désordre mess
chiquelette chewing-gum chewing-gum
collège (Genève) or gymnase (Vaud) lycée high-school
crousille tirelire money
cornet sac en plastique plastic bag In French, "cornet" would typically designate an ice cream cone.
cutips coton-tige cotton swab Antonomasia from the brand Q-tips which phonetically becomes "cutips" when pronounced in French.
cycle collège middle-school
déjeuner petit-déjeuner breakfast Meal names are shifted in Swiss French, meaning that the name for lunch is used for breakfast, the one for dinner is used for lunch and the French equivalent of the word "supper" is used for dinner.
dent de lion pissenlit dandelion
dîner déjeuner lunch Meal names are shifted in Swiss French, meaning that the name for lunch is used for breakfast, the one for dinner is used for lunch and the French equivalent of the word "supper" is used for dinner.
duvet couette blanket "Duvet" comes from the fact that blankets used to be filled with down feather (duvet).
s'encoubler se prendre les pieds dans quelque chose/trébucher to trip over
s'énuquer se briser la nuque to break one's neck
étude d'avocats cabinet d'avocats law firm
faire la noce faire la fête to party This expression can also be found in Standard French even though it is probably less used or used predominantly by old people.
fœhn sèche-cheveux hairdryer The name "fœhn" comes from the Foehn wind.
frouz les Français people from France - French
fonds terrain or champs field
fourre dossier/housse folder In French, "fourrer" means "to stuff".
galetas grenier attic
giratoire rond-point roundabout Comes from "carrefour à sens giratoire which would translate to "circular crossroads".
gouille flaque puddle
huitante quatre-vingts eighty In Swiss French, as opposed to French, the words for seventy, eighty and ninety are similar in construction to the ones used for thirty up to sixty.
linge serviette towel In French, "linge" is a generic word that refers to clothing, bed sheets and towels.
lolette tétine pacifier/teat
maman de jour assistante maternelle day care assistant
maturité baccalauréat high-school final examination
natel (téléphone) portable mobile phone
mutr mère mother Comes from the German word for "Mother", "Mutter".
nom de bleu! nom de dieu! in the name of god!/god dammit!
nonante quatre-vingts-dix ninety In Swiss French, as opposed to French, the words for seventy, eighty and ninety are similar in construction to the ones used for thirty up to sixty.
panosse serpillière floorcloth
papier ménage papier essuie-tout paper towel
pive pomme de pin conifer cone
poutzer nettoyer to clean Comes from the German word "putzen" which means "to clean".
Procès verbal d'examen (PV) bulletin de note report card
réclame publicité advertisement "Réclame" is an older disused word for advertising in French.
régie agence immobilière real estate agent
roye pluie rain
royer pleuvoir to rain
sans autre sans plus attendre without further ado
santé à tes/vos souhaits bless you (when someone sneezes)
septante soixante-dix seventy In Swiss French, as opposed to French, the words for seventy, eighty and ninety are similar in construction to the ones used for thirty up to sixty.
service je t'en/vous en prie you're welcome Comes from "à votre service" meaning "at your service".
services couverts cutlery
signofile/indicateur clignotant turn signal
souper dîner dinner Meal names are shifted in Swiss French, meaning that the name for lunch is used for breakfast, the one for dinner is used for lunch and the French equivalent of the word "supper" is used for dinner.
tablard étagère shelf
talus pente slope
uni (short word for université) fac (short word for faculté) university
votations scrutin voting
vatr père father Comes from the German word for "Father", "Vater".

See also

References

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