T’as déjà eu une amende pour excès de vitesse ? 🚙💨

Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket?

Coucou ☕️🇫🇷🥐 I'm Amélie Laurent and this is my French newsletter. I supercharge your progress from A2 to B2 through colloquial dialogues.
If you've received this, then you either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you.
If someone forwarded it and you want to subscribe, then you can click on this handy little button:

Coucou mes petits linguistes! 🧐 Back to our regular billing, a Conversation Starter ☕️ dialogue today. The new French 101 🇫🇷 dialogues will be roughly every week moving forward—so you get the best of both worlds.

Today we’ll get to see two of the greatest French swear words of all time. Two real hall-of-famers, MVPs, two real classics! (Putain et Connard). And what’s a more appropriate situation for a French person to swear than while getting a speeding ticket? It’s almost like someone is painstakingly designing these dialogues so everything fits together seamlessly… 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ne vous inquiétez pas des erreurs. Même le fromage français le plus délicieux a des trous! — Don't worry about making mistakes. Even the most delicious French cheese has holes!

🤳🏼 Share photos!

I created some Subscriber Chats → (sign in with your email) for everyone to share photos this morning and they’ve been popping off before I’ve even sent this edition out!

The idea is to give the community a space to share some France love and some cool pics. If you can’t access the chat but still want to share photos - you can always reply to this email as a fallback.

The main thread is “Avez-vous visité la France ? 🇫🇷 Partagez une photo !”
If you visited France this summer and would like to share a photo please do ! ✨

To join our chat, you’ll need to go to the website, or download the Substack app.
[See full guide below] Chats are sent via the web/app, not email, so turn on push notifications if you don’t want to miss conversation as it happens.

---

We all secretly know the only way to truly learn a language are real-life conversations and experiences. Lessons and grammar can only take us so far.
While real-life experiences are difficult to recreate, my colloquial conversational dialogues help you learn authentic French in context. They’re how real French people actually speak.

If you have any questions or concerns - comment below or simply reply to this email.

Gros Bisous! A x

Dialogue Audio 🎧

Dialogue du Jour

Matéo : Lisa, t’as déjà eu une amende ✪ pour excès de vitesse ?

Lisa : Oh putain ✪, oui ! Je me suis fait prendre par un flic ✪ le mois dernier. J'étais tellement en colère contre moi-même !

Matéo : Ah, tu as été prise la main dans le sac ✪ alors ! Tu roulais ✪ à combien ?

Lisa : Je roulais un peu au-dessus de la limite. Le pire, c'est que je n'avais pas réalisé que je dépassais la vitesse autorisée.

Matéo : Ah, c'est toujours embêtant. Et l'amende, c'était combien ?

Lisa : Assez cher, je suis à sec ✪ maintenant ! Ce policier était vraiment un connard ✪, il n'a montré aucune indulgence.

Matéo : Ah oui, ça c'est vraiment nul. Tu sais, une fois, j'ai aussi été arrêté pour un délit ✪ de vitesse aussi.

Lisa : Vraiment ? Toi, Matéo ? Tu sembles toujours conduire prudemment.

Matéo : Oui, c'était une situation bizarre. Le policier s'est approché de ma voiture et a crié "Haut les mains !" comme si j'étais un criminel.

Lisa : Quoi ? Vraiment ?

Matéo : À ce moment-là, je me sentais vraiment coupable ✪. Maintenant, je fais toujours attention à ma vitesse.

♡ 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕠𝕨 👇

---

✪ Notes

une amende = a fine “une très grosse amende”

putain ✨= whoah what can I say? Another French word that is its own institution. Books could be written on the meaning of this one swear word—perhaps our greatest. Even if you have no time for vulgarity, it’s still important to understand. 

Swear words are notoriously hard for language learners to get the strength of. In a sense they never translate. The best short description I’ve heard of ‘putain’ is that it’s “as versatile as ‘f**k’ [in English] but less strong”. On its own, where it regularly occurs, muttered under the shocked aunties breathe, it’s more ’Oh my God!’. Like all French curse words, there are endless derivatives. 

Those wanting to brush up on this French pastime can dig deeper here🔗

un flic = a cop (colq.) “Sérieux, le flic va t'entendre.” (Seriously, the cop’s going to hear you)

être pris la main dans le sac ✨🧩 = got caught red-handed 

rouler = to drive. It references any vehicle, the driver and all passengers. Hey, they’re all rolling hein! Conduire (the verb you’re probably used to) only works for the driver. 

je suis à sec✨= je suis fauché = I’m broke

un connard✨ = imbécile, enfoiré = moron, bastard, asshole, idiot. This one cannot be used in a jokey way among friends, it’s really stronger than asshole, aggressive. If you were to say it to someone’s face ask yourself “Am I trying to start a fight?”

un délit = crime/offence. “Pour ce délit vous risquez l'emprisonnement”.

coupable = guilty (can also be used as a noun = un/une coupable)

*✨ = especially ‘Frenchie’ words/phrases you should try and use more
*🧩 = ‘canned’ expressions or phrases that are best learned as a whole, like puzzle-pieces.

Writing Prompt ✍️

I’ve (thankfully) never gotten a speeding ticket! 😇 Lucky me. Not that I’m some angel though, I do feel the need, the need for speeeddd. But I’m also a devotee of cruise control. Set-it and forget-it on big straight roads where the accelerator pedal can be a temptation! The rental car in Ireland didn’t have it and I was lost. Cruise-control to the people! ✊🏼

Alors, t’as déjà eu une amende pour excès de vitesse ?

All answers are welcome. One word.. or one sentence.
Write me your answer in the comments. I can’t wait to read them! 👇🏼

---

Translation

M: L have you ever had a speeding ticket?

L: Oh God, yes! I got caught by a cop last month. I was so angry with myself!

M: Oh, so you were caught red-handed! How fast were you going?

L: I was driving a bit over the limit. The worst thing was that I didn't realise I was going over the it.

M: Ah, that's always annoying. How much was the fine?

L: It's pretty expensive, I'm broke now! That policeman was such an asshole, he didn't show any leniency.

M: Oh yes, that really sucks. You know, I was once stopped for a speeding offence too.

L: Really? You, Matéo? You always seem to drive carefully.

M: Yes, it was a weird situation. The policeman came up to my car and shouted "Hands up! "as if I were a criminal.

L: What? Really?

M: At that moment, I felt really guilty. Now I always watch my speed.

Exercise - Fill in the blank 💪

Quickly test your comprehension, accelerate your learning. 🚀

1. Il est difficile de ___ sur une route encombrée.
   It's hard to drive on a crowded road.

2. J'ai reçu ___ pour avoir garé ma voiture au mauvais endroit.
   I received a fine for parking my car in the wrong place.

3. Bien que je ne sois pas ___, je me sens toujours nerveux quand je vois un policier.
   Even though I'm not guilty, I always feel nervous when I see a police officer.

4. Hier soir, j'ai été arrêté par ___ en rentrant chez moi.
   Last night, I was stopped by a cop on my way home.

5. Je ne peux pas aller au cinéma ce soir, ___.
   I can't go to the movies tonight, I'm broke.

If you’re struggling the ✪ Notes section is always a good place to look. 😉 The answers are all in the dialogue or notes section.

[NO PEAKING] Answer Key: 1. rouler 2. une amende 3. coupable 4. un flic 5. je suis à sec

⏪ Catch Up On Recent Dialogues

• Rencontrer quelqu'un pour la première fois 👋

• C’est quoi ton émission préférée ? 📺

📚 What I’m Reading

Chartr: See how the world works 👌🏼 I’m a visual learner and so seeing insightful charts and graphs on the stories that everyone makes small-talk about really helps me feel like I’ve got a handle on what’s going on... I’m not sure I do, but I feel I do! Subscribe free 📨

Une Façon d'utiliser ce Dialogue

These dialogues are a very simple tool. Yet this allows them to be versatile and endlessly flexible to you and your learning style. 
Here’s one way you could use the dialogue this week:

• 🕵🏻 Beginner: Identify the verbs in each sentence.

• 🥷Advanced: List their conjugation and infinitives.

Check out my quick guide🔗 for different ways you can learn with these dialogues. Perfect if you’re finding them too easy or too hard. 🙌🏻

---

How to get started with chat on mobile

1. Download the app by clicking this link or the button below. Substack Chat is now available on both iOS and Android.

2. Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.

3. That’s it! Jump into my thread to say hi, and if you have any issues, check out Substack’s FAQ.

---

Private French Lessons

If you’re a serious intermediate student, and would like a private lesson, you can book one here →. Please note there are limited spots available, it is '“first-come first-served” as you say in English.

𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕥𝕠 ♡ 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕊𝕦𝕓𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕜👇

If you want a link to message someone or share on socials (this is the biggest thing you can do to help me grow! 🌱) here it is:

If you have any type of feedback please let me know in the comments. Or you can just reply to this email.

Until next time, mes petits croissants! Stay flaky, stay golden. 😉🥐

Amélie x