I've noticed something on a couple of French language movies regarding the pronunciation of "oui"

It was my understanding that it was pronounced "wee", but I have heard (bearing in mind my limited ability to hear) it pronounced as "why" on a couple of different shows.

Am I hearing it wrong, or is a a regional thing or what?

Just as we have accents in our Americanized English so do the French.
I've also heard it pronounced almost like "way".

Think of it as the French version of "yeah". In written French, it is spelled "ouais."

It does sound like "why" to an English speaker.

It's common usage French, not really limited to one region.

quote:

Originally posted by NikonUser:
Think of it as the French version of "yeah". In written French, it is spelled "ouais."

It does sound like "why" to an English speaker.

It's common usage French, not really limited to one region.

Ah. That explains it. Thanks!

Like the north and the south accents here,different regions in France say the same thing differently.Southern French close to Italy was influenced by Italian.Corsican,Basque,Brittany,Paris and Metz(close to Germany) have influences also from neighboring countries.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

quote:

Originally posted by NikonUser:
Think of it as the French version of "yeah". In written French, it is spelled "ouais."

It does sound like "why" to an English speaker.

It's common usage French, not really limited to one region.

Ah. That explains it. Thanks!

Happy to help.

Also, the French also have a habit of sometimes saying "si" or "si, si", sounds like "see, see", "or "sissy" for "yes, yes." That is much less common outside of France. Silly French.

So many ways to say yes. Unlike in English where we only have "yes", "yeah", "yep", "yeppers", "uh uh" and the ever-popular "sure."

Yes, oui pronounced like "whey" is basically French for "yeah." It's quite informal. My wife will correct our daughter when she uses it.

I've never heard it pronounced like "why" though.

quote:

Originally posted by NikonUser:

So many ways to say yes. Unlike in English where we only have "yes", "yeah", "yep", "yeppers", "uh uh" and the ever-popular "sure."

Roger that.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by NikonUser:

So many ways to say yes. Unlike in English where we only have "yes", "yeah", "yep", "yeppers", "uh uh" and the ever-popular "sure."

Roger that.

Bale, bale (Farsi).

flashguy

OK

Meanwhile, in Quebec, it is said ouais [ooay] or ouin [oo-un], but without the full -n sound - a bit like the 'uh' sound in Ameriglish.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Yes, oui pronounced like "whey" is basically French for "yeah." It's quite informal. My wife will correct our daughter when she uses it.

I've never heard it pronounced like "why" though.

On the show "19-2" I'm pretty sure I heard it pronounce with a long "i" but as I said, my hearing is only so-so.

As a Franco-American in the Northeast, I can tell you there are many versions of oui (yes)! Many Francos will have a regional dialect that creeps into their Canadian French. "oui" is pretty simple. As others have said, you can hear many different versions from many different areas. Where I was brought up, the folks were mainly of Canadian heritage. We often used Franglais, which is a combination of Canadian and english (anglais). We spoke mostly in French, but when we couldn't quickly think of the French word, we used the English word. Made for some funny conversations, but we knew what was being said!

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Yes, oui pronounced like "whey" is basically French for "yeah." It's quite informal. My wife will correct our daughter when she uses it.

I've never heard it pronounced like "why" though.

I just finished watching another episode of 19-2 and you are correct, I was mis-hearing (is that a word?) it. I also noticed for the first time that the captions translated it as "yeah" vs. "yes".

Thanks for the update.