Être riche ou trouver le grand amour ? 💵🧡

Would you rather be rich and never find true love or be poor and find true love?

May 30, 2023

Salut tout le monde! 👋🏼 Nous voici à une nouvelle édition de Français avec Amélie!

A real conversation starter today! (Although aren’t all the dialogue questions conversation starters? You bet, that’s one of the very best ways🔗 to use them.. as the topic for a conversation with a language partner!)

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 du Jour

Colette : Tu préférerais ✪ être riche et jamais trouver le grand amour, ou être pauvre et trouver grand amour ?

René : Hmm, c'est une question difficile. Pour moi, je pense que je préférerais être pauvre et trouver le véritable amour. L'amour, c'est vraiment important dans la vie, non?

Colette : Chui ✪ d'accord avec toi. Je pense que l'amour est essentiel pour être heureux. L'argent, ça peut faciliter ✪ la vie, mais ça ne fait tout.

René : Exactement. J'ai toujours pensé que l'amour est plus précieux que l'argent. Après tout, si on est riche mais qu'on a personne à aimer, à quoi bon ✪?

Colette : C'est vrai. Je pense que beaucoup de gens qui ont beaucoup d'argent finissent par se sentir seuls ✪, parce qu'ils savent pas si les gens les aiment pour ce qu'ils sont ou pour leur argent.

René : Exactement. Et puis, si on est pauvre mais qu'on a trouvé le véritable amour, on peut toujours s'entraider ✪ et essayer de construire une vie meilleure ensemble.

Colette : Oui, c'est ce qui compte, non ? Trouver quelqu'un avec qui partager sa vie, quelles que soient ✪ les circonstances. Je crois que nous pouvons tous trouver le véritable amour, peu importe notre situation financière.

René : C'est beau, Colette. Je suis convaincu que le bonheur se trouve pas dans les biens matériels, mais plutôt dans les relations sincères et les moments partagés avec les personnes qu'on aime.

𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕥𝕠 ♡ 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕊𝕦𝕓𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕜👇

✪ Notes

tu préférerais être riche - (conditional mood) - ‘préférer’ is one of those verbs that always looks more complicated than it is - a bit of a diva. Those accents and repeating letters are off-putting. As you can see🔗 it declines normally. *Verbix is a great site for checking if verbs have any funny stuff going on or just look scary.

chui = how French people actually say ‘Je suis’ 😱 Or even, Chépa = je ne sais pas. Yep, that’s what actually comes out of most French people’s mouths! 👁️👄👁️
Don’t worry, we’ll cover things like that more in future lessons.

faciliter - a true friend (as opposed a false friend🔗) it means the same as English - but the register is lower, it’s not as ‘formal’ as ‘to facilitate’ sounds in English.. it just means ‘to make something easier’.

à quoi bon = what's the point?/what good is it? Ex. “Je me demande à quoi bon” (I wonder why I bother)

seuls = alone and lonely

s'entraider = pull together

quelles que soient = quel que soit = whatever/regardless of/no matter
Ex. “Réveillez-moi quelle que soit l'heure” (Wake me, no matter the hour)

But do you agrees with Colette and René’s conclusion? Maybe it’s easier to find true love if you’re rich.. or is it more difficult? 🤷🏼‍♀️

As always, you can let me know your thoughts in the comments .. cause I know you have them.

Alors, tu préférerais être riche et jamais trouver le grand amour, ou être pauvre et trouver grand amour ? 💬

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

Translation

C: Would you rather be rich and never find true love, or be poor and find true love?

R: Hmm, that's a difficult question. For me, I think I would rather be poor and find true love. Love is really important in life, right?

C: No I agree. I think that love is essential to be happy. Money can make life easier, but it's not everything.

R: Exactly. I've always thought that love is more precious than money. After all, if you're rich but have no one to love, what's the point?

C: That's true. I think a lot of people who have a lot of money end up feeling lonely, because they don't know if people love them for who they are or for their money.

R: Exactly. And then, if you are poor but you have found true love, you can always help each other and try to build a better life together.

C: Yes, that's what counts, no? Finding someone to share your life with, whatever the circumstances. I think we can all find true love, no matter what our financial situation is.

R: That's beautiful, C. I am convinced that happiness is not found in material goods, but rather in sincere relationships and moments shared with the people we love.

Share it with your mom! Let me know what she thinks.

Exercise - Fill in the blank 💪

Quickly test your comprehension, accelerate your learning. 🚀

Si tu ne sais pas où tu vas, ___ lancer ton GPS ?
If you don't know where you're going, what's the point of turning on your GPS?
En matière de musique, ___ ton genre préféré, il est toujours plus amusant de danser avec des amis.
When it comes to music, regardless of your favorite genre, it's always more fun to dance with friends.
L'utilisation d'un logiciel de gestion de projet peut ___ grandement la coordination d'une équipe.
The use of project management software can greatly facilitate the coordination of a team.
Même si nous sommes ___, je suis sûr que nous pouvons résoudre ce problème ensemble.
Even if we are alone, I am sure we can solve this problem together.
Thomas ___ passer une soirée tranquille à la maison.
Thomas would prefer a quiet evening at home.

A little more difficult today? Stretch you guys a bit. 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. à quoi bon 2. quel que soit 3. faciliter 4. seuls 5. préférerait

Feedback Follow-up ✨

First, a big thank you to everyone who gave feedback on the last dialogue! It’s so appreciated and helps improve the newsletter for everybody! I don’t take engaged readers for granted. 😇

Voila, the replies to my first ‘difficulty’ survey. Not too bad! (is my first thought).

👌 just right : ~65% / a majority find the dialogues ‘just right’ which seems pretty good!
😴 too easy : I hope the Exercises, the extra vocab in the Notes, and some more advanced ways of using the dialogues can help people in this category
💢 too hard : this is number is too high. I’m working on new features that will hopefully help these folk, although maybe I need to target readers who already have some French experience - as the dialogues aren’t designed for total beginners?
I want to get this number down, so I’ll take this into consideration for the coming weeks and re-survey soon.

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:

💬 Use the question as a topic with your tutor (online or in-person).

You can use some ideas or new expression from the dialogue in your conversation ! It allows you to study *before* a tutoring session so you can feel more confident and prepared.

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. 🙌🏻