Quel est ton premier souvenir d'enfance ? 🌲🚲

What is your first childhood memory?

Bonjour à tous les fans de la langue française! 🌟 I’m thrilled to have you with us for another edition of French with Amélie!

Ne vous découragez pas si vous ne comprenez pas tout. La tour Eiffel n'a pas été construite en un jour! — Don't get discouraged if you don't understand everything. The Eiffel Tower wasn't built in a day! 🗼

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

a little more behind the scenes Substack action

So I thought you guys were all just hopeless romantics (and hence double the likes/comments) … but last time out we had even more likes/comments! Which means:

1. You’re all amazing

2. Y’all really love your matcha latté and your coffee!

3. Why do you hate singing in the shower so much? 🥲 You’re making me feel bad for the habit of a lifetime!

Dialogue du Jour

Romain : Quel est ton premier souvenir d'enfance, François ?

François : Mon premier souvenir, Romain, c'est quand j'avais environ ✪ quatre ans. Je me rappelle d'une promenade avec mon grand-père dans la forêt près de chez nous. Et toi ?

Romain : C'est un joli souvenir ! Pour moi, c'était lorsque ✪ j'ai reçu mon premier vélo pour mon cinquième anniversaire. Je me souviens ✪ encore de l'excitation que j'ai ressentie ce jour-là.

François : Oh, je peux imaginer ! Apprendre à faire du vélo, c'est un grand moment pour un enfant. Tu as dû être fier de ✪ toi.

Romain : Oui, j'étais vraiment heureux. D'ailleurs, ça me fait penser à une autre histoire ✪ d’enfance. Quand j'étais petit, j'adorais construire des cabanes dans les arbres avec mes amis.

François : Les cabanes, quelle belle époque ! Moi aussi, j'en construisais avec mes cousins pendant les vacances ✪ d'été.

Romain : Ça me manque ✪ parfois, ces moments insouciants de l'enfance, où l'on s'amusait avec les choses les plus simples.

François : C'est vrai, la vie était plus simple et plus légère. Mais d'un autre côté, on a vécu de belles expériences et on a grandi.

♡ 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕠𝕨 👇

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✪ Notes

environ = about/approximately. Always ‘environ’ before a quantity. Ex. “Il reste environ 100 km”, “Paul a environ 30 ans” etc.

lorsque = quand. Just a little more formal version. You might never use it, but (as always) helpful to recognise.

je me souviens = se souvenir (de) = to remember Ex. “Tu te souviens des Duval?” (Do you remember the Duval family?). un souvenir = a memory

💡Maybe good time for a reminder that, à or de really need to come after lots of French verbs. It’s no big panic. The only problem is when teachers or textbooks *never make that clear*. As always, exposure and practice will have 90% of this on autopilot and stressing about it makes everything worse. But if you’re studying hard make sure and memorise à or de *as part of the verb*. So it’s not ‘se souvenir’ its ‘se souvenir de’ etc. ❤️

être fier de = to be proud of. fier comme un coq = proud as a peacock

les vacances - Fun fact, every English word ending in ‘ion’ works in French!

(Condition, position, opinion, reservation etc. English speakers start out with a vocabulary of 100s of words!).

But there are 3 exceptions! And ‘les vacances’(≠ vacation) is one of them. Maybe you can guess the other two ?

Ça me manque = I miss it = lit. ‘It is missing to me’. manquer is simple to use if we're talking about a train or a plane. Ex. J’ai manqué mon avion.

But if we're talking about missing someone/something, French logic is totally different! 🤯 Instead of saying "I miss Paris”, we say Paris me manque, or “Paris is missing to me’. “I miss you" = Tu me manques. 

My earliest childhood memory takes me back to the rustic kitchen in my grand-mère's country house. I must've been three or four, standing on a stool, barely reaching the counter. Together, we made crepes from her secret recipe. The sound of her laughter, the sweet smell of batter turning golden... it felt like magic

Alors, quel est ton premier souvenir d'enfance ? 💬

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

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Translation

R: What is your first childhood memory, F?

F: My first memory, R, is when I was about four years old. I remember going for a walk with my grandfather in the forest near our house. What about you?

R: That's a nice memory! For me, it was when I got my first bike for my fifth birthday. I still remember the excitement I felt that day.

F: Oh, I can imagine! Learning to ride a bike is a big moment for a kid. You must have been proud of yourself.

A: Yes, I was really happy. By the way, it reminds me of another childhood story. When I was a kid, I loved building tree houses with my friends.

F: Tree houses, what a great time! I used to build them with my cousins during the summer vacations too.

A: I sometimes miss those carefree moments of childhood, when we had fun with the simplest things.

F: It's true, life was simpler and lighter. But on the other hand, we had great experiences and we grew up.

Exercise - Fill in the blank 💪

Quickly test your comprehension, accelerate your learning. 🚀

1. Chaque fois que je visite la plage, _____ nos _____ d'été.
   Every time I visit the beach, I remember our summer vacations.

2. Il y a _____ cinq ans, tu m'as aidé à déménager dans mon nouvel appartement. _____ ce jour ?
   About five years ago, you helped me move into my new apartment. Do you remember that day?

3. Mon frère a obtenu son doctorat l'année dernière. Je suis vraiment _____ lui.
   My brother got his PhD last year. I am really proud of him

4. La cuisine de ma grand-mère _____ énormément, personne ne fait la ratatouille comme elle.
   I miss my grandmother's cooking a lot, nobody makes ratatouille like her.

5. Depuis que tu as déménagé à l'étranger, _____ beaucoup.
   Since you moved abroad, I miss you a lot.

A little fancy this week.. two words in one sentence, breaking all the rules.
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. je me souviens de, vacances 2. environ, tu te souviens de 3. fier de 4. me manque 5. tu me manques

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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:

• 📣 Read the dialogue out loud (this bit is really important) to yourself.

Try and master the intonation of the words and emotions.

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. 🙌🏻

𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕥𝕠 ♡ 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕊𝕦𝕓𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕜👇

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

Hasta luego, mes étudiants! ✌🏼

Amélie x