Dear French Story Listeners,

There is something remarkable about a good story.

It travels across centuries, crosses continents, and arrives, still warm, in your ears, your imagination, and quietly, gently, your memory.

This week’s story comes from Tunisia 🇹🇳 and here are three things that might surprise you about this fascinating francophone country:

🫒 Tunisia produces nearly 2% of the world’s olive oil. The ancient Romans called it the “breadbasket of the empire,” and olive trees there are sometimes over a thousand years old.

🎬 The desert landscapes of Tunisia were used to film Star Wars, the village of Matmata became Luke Skywalker’s home planet Tatooine. The name itself comes from a Tunisian town.

🗣️ French is not an official language in Tunisia, Arabic is, and yet French is everywhere: in universities, businesses, newspapers and daily conversation, a living trace of France’s historical presence that began in 1881.

It is from this rich, layered culture that we borrow this week’s tale.

This week’s free story: L’histoire d’Ommi Sissi

Ommi Sissi finds one small coin and decides to make her daughter a beautiful couscous.

A rascally neighbour’s cat (un chat fripon et gourmand!) has other ideas.

What follows is a delightful chain of exchanges: cat to grocer, grocer to cow, cow to meadow, meadow to river, each one hinging on a single word: si. If.

Watch here: https://youtu.be/E_VTEDL2z1Y

This week’s invitation: play with “if”

Si clauses are one of those things grammar books make feel complicated.

But when you hear them inside a story you love, they simply make sense. Try reimagining the tale:

• Si le chat ne mange pas le couscous, Ommi Sissi ne coupe pas sa queue. → If the cat doesn’t eat the couscous, Ommi Sissi doesn’t cut off his tail.
• Si la vache ne donne pas de lait, l’épicier ne donne pas de beurre. → If the cow doesn’t give milk, the grocer doesn’t give any butter.
• Si la rivière ne donne pas d’eau, le chat ne récupère pas sa queue. → If the river doesn’t give water, the cat doesn’t get his tail back.

Do you see how natural that feels? You already know the story, so the grammar looks after itself.

This is why context matters so much, si learned in a textbook is just a rule.

Si met inside a story about a greedy cat and a little girl’s tears becomes something you truly understand and remember.

Listen, enjoy, and let it settle.

Alice 💕

P.S. If you’d like to go deeper — more stories, more guidance, and a lovely community of learners to share the journey with — I’d love to welcome you into the membership. You’ll find the full story library and personal feedback on your French narrations. All the details are at aliceayel.com 💕