Sur l’autoroute, Paul n’aime ni accélérer trop vite ni doubler quand il pleut.

On the highway, Paul likes neither speeding up too fast nor overtaking when it rains.

Breakdown of Sur l’autoroute, Paul n’aime ni accélérer trop vite ni doubler quand il pleut.

• Paul: Paul
• aimer: to like
• sur: on
• quand: when

Questions & Answers about Sur l’autoroute, Paul n’aime ni accélérer trop vite ni doubler quand il pleut.

What does Sur l’autoroute literally mean, and why is it at the beginning?

Sur l’autoroute means on the highway / on the motorway.

French often puts a place phrase at the beginning to set the scene. So the sentence starts by telling you the setting, and then says what Paul does not like to do there.

A more neutral order would be: Paul n’aime ni accélérer trop vite ni doubler sur l’autoroute quand il pleut.

But the original version emphasizes the highway first.

Why is it l’autoroute and not just autoroute?

In French, general nouns often take an article where English might not. So French says sur l’autoroute literally on the motorway/highway, even when speaking generally.

This is very common:

• à l’école = at school
• à la maison = at home
• dans la voiture = in the car
• sur l’autoroute = on the highway

What does ni ... ni mean?

Ni ... ni means neither ... nor.

So:

• ni accélérer trop vite ni doubler means
• neither drive faster and faster / accelerate too much nor overtake

It links two things that Paul does not like doing.