We’ve noticed this happening increasingly, in spoken and written French. Is it common?
/rant mode on/ Modern lazy speak, because the younger generation (sweeping generalisation) can’t be a$#ed to think about the grammar construction of their phrase before they open their mouths. /rant mode off/.
More seriously, it is an evolution of contemporary French - can’t say I’m in favour, personally.
Auntie Google has this to say about it:
Résumé des structures en concurrence
| Type de langage | Exemple de structure | Statut grammatical |
|---|---|---|
| Soutenu / Écrit | Le film dont je me souviens. | Correct (Norme académique) |
| Populaire / Oral | Le film que je me souviens. | Incorrect (Fautif selon la norme) |
| Périphrase populaire | Le film que je me rappelle. | Correct (Changement de verbe) |
Bien que cette tendance soit très forte à l’oral, le remplacement de dont par que reste considéré comme une faute de syntaxe (un solécisme) dans le registre formel et à l’écrit.
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It’s a bit like always trying to learn the gender with a noun, if one tries to learn the verb with its preposition then less likely to go wrong. But I do quite often because I have ‘older person lazy speak’, with a brain that doesn’t summon up the right construction quickly enough.
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It’s exceedingly irritating, using ‘c’est’ when it should be ‘ce sont’ is another common one. Not pronouncing liaisons is also an irritant as is pronouncing letters one doesn’t usually (probably an indication the word was read not heard at some stage, so one shouldn’t blame, but it’s still annoying).
Many people don’t read, or listen to anything soutenu which contributes to the confusion.
(Similarly in English disinterested when the writer means uninterested, ‘I’m good’ as an answer to ‘how are you?’ I am/was sat instead of I am/was sitting etc etc. could of, for could have etc.
Similar things happen in German).
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I think I must be guilty as charged on all of these French ones - I have a feeling my French speaking must be painful to my interlocutors - however they often say I parle bien…
I asked one of my prof’s about how important it was as a foreigner when getting the noun gender incorrect (having just spent the years learning the nouns never mind the genders) - he said well they won’t have une crise cardiaque. (and yes I had to check the gender).
Funnily enough, that’s exactly what our favourite brasserie serveur recently had - I think I’m forgiven as his wife and us are still on pecking terms.
Clearly though, sounds like a ‘relearning’ is in order.
I forgive foreigners, I don’t expect them to speak perfectly and am agreeably surprised by those who make the effort to speak at all. It’s much harder to be tolerant when people mangle their native language.
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