I came across the following : "“Qu’est-ce que c’est?”, crie le policier à la retraite par la fenêtre de sa chambre. Il dormait.
I have not come across the phrasing ‘à la retraite par la fenêtre’ before. Does it mean a ‘recess’ or ‘alcove’ by the window? Or is it a poor use of French?
I’m sure it just means 'retired police officer by the window". I had read more into than there was.
Yep, that’s right
Yes, it’s a retired police officer that screams by his bedroom’s window.
I was thinking it meant the police officer jumped out the window. 
Just out of curiosity – is there a single-word adjective in French that could replace “à la retraite” in the sentence and retain close to the same meaning? Something like “passé” or “ancien”?
What’s wrong with “ancien” ? (I mean preposed, e.g. “un ancien policier”)
“Ex” or “ancien” means that he is no longer a policeman but it can be for having been fired, or dismissed himself. “A la retraite” convoys the meaning that he is 1) old enough (> 55 years) and 2) finished his carrier in the police completely.
So not really a single word that will have the same infos.
A single word would “retraité” meaning “retired”.
FWIW, Google Translate (I know, I know …) allows French “l’homme retraité” to render English “the retired man”. That doesn’t mean there’s not a connotation that makes the phrase clunky or somehow off in French.
Yes, sorry; “un ancien policier” = “a former policeman”. For “retraité” in novels, e.g.
Il y a deux personnes dans la salle d’attente. L’une est un vieillard d’une maigreur extrême, un professeur de français retraité qui continue à donner des cours par correspondance et qui attend son tour en corrigeant avec un crayon finement taillé un paquet de copies.
vs (in the same book)
Mais si Monsieur Echard — vieux bibliothécaire à la retraite dont la marotte était d’accumuler des preuves démontrant qu’Hitler était toujours vivant — était la bonhommie même, sa femme se révéla une véritable teigne dont les récriminations continuelles aux heures des repas ne tardèrent pas à rallumer sérieusement le conflit…
Yes, “retraité” as adjective would do the job. But it’s of more use as a noun (“un retraité”, “les retraités”)
The French speakers I know (who I’m always asking about my amateur French) claim that they’re lazy enough that they’ll shorten anything. “Je ne sais pas” became "J’pas" long ago.
Heck, I spent the best years of my life learning their awkward counting, where seventy is 'Soixante-dix" (“sixty-ten”), eighty is said “Quatre-vingt” (“four twenties”) and ninety is “Quatre-vingt dix” (“four twenties ten”). Quelle le fuque?
And now, the younger Frenchies laugh at me and say they gave up on that, and just say Soixante, Septante, Huitante, Neufante.
So I’m betting à la retraite would be shortened to retraité.
And “Un vieux bibliothécaire à la retraite” would be “Un bibliothécaire retraité”.
I was told that was the usage in Belgium (don’t know how true that is).
I have never, ever heard that in France, but I have in Switzerland, past the border. Belgium, I can’t remember. Either way, I would not talk like that unless you are deliberately putting on a dialect.
Also, FYI, someone who visited Québec City later reported “un accent morbide”, I believe she said
Yep, Belgium and Swiss count as septante (70), octante (80) and nonante (90). But if you say that in France, you will be looked at (and maybe not even understood) even by youngsters.
And we used “mille neuf cent quatre vingt dix neuf” for 1999…
Soixante: universal
Septante: Switzerland and Belgium
Huitante: Switzerland only. In France and Belgium 80 is still quatre-vingts.
Octante: Canada?
Nonante: Switzerland and Belgium
Help me make sense of this. The retired policeman is shouting through the window while sleeping? Or he had recently been sleeping but is now awake and shouting through the window? Or the person sleeping is a different person from the person shouting?
He was sleeping, had been waken up and shouts to know what waken him.