Breakdown of L'intégration dont il parle est difficile.
être
to be
il
he
difficile
difficult
parler
to speak
Questions & Answers about L'intégration dont il parle est difficile.
Why do we use dont here instead of que?
We use dont because the verb is parler de (to talk about). The relative pronoun dont specifically replaces phrases that start with the preposition de. If the verb didn't need a preposition, we would use que.
Where is the word for "about" in the French sentence?
It is built right into dont. In English, we often put prepositions at the end of a clause (talking about). French doesn't allow this, so dont functions like "about which" (the integration about which he is speaking).
Why is parle in the present tense? Doesn't the English "is talking" imply a continuous tense?
French does not have a separate continuous tense like English does with "is -ing". The simple present tense il parle covers both "he talks" and "he is talking". If you wanted to emphasize how long he has been talking about it, you would use structures from your current lesson, like Ça fait une heure qu'il en parle.
Could I say L'intégration de laquelle il parle?