Questions & Answers about Il parle souvent du passé.
Why does souvent come after the verb, unlike the English 'often talks'?
In French, adverbs like souvent (often) usually go directly after the conjugated verb, not before it. You cannot say Il souvent parle; it must be Il parle souvent (literally 'He talks often'). Why does the sentence use du for 'about the'?
The verb parler uses the preposition de to mean 'to talk about' something. Because 'the past' is a masculine noun (le passé), the preposition de and the article le merge together. In French, de + le must always contract into du. Can I use sur to mean 'about' here instead of de?
It is best to avoid it. While sur can mean 'about' or 'on' in other contexts, the standard verb phrase for 'to talk about' something is parler de. You should always pair parler with de when mentioning what is being discussed. Is passé the same word used in the tense passé composé?
Yes, they are exactly the same word. In this sentence, passé acts as a noun meaning 'the past.' In the grammatical term passé composé (which translates to 'composed past'), it acts as an adjective describing the tense. Learn Il parle souvent du passé and more in French
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