Ses parents sont sérieux quand ils parlent des devoirs.

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Questions & Answers about Ses parents sont sérieux quand ils parlent des devoirs.

What does the possessive ses mean here, and why not leurs or son/sa?
  • Ses = “his/her/their” when one person owns several things. It agrees with what is owned (plural: parents), not with the owner.
  • Use leurs only when several people are the owners: “their (several people’s) parents.”
  • Son/sa are for a single owned item (masculine/feminine singular): son père, sa mère. With plural “parents,” you need ses.
Why is the adjective sérieux used (with -x), and how does agreement work?
  • Sérieux is the masculine form; it’s the same in singular and plural (masc. sg = masc. pl = sérieux).
  • Parents is a masculine plural noun, so the adjective must be masculine plural: sont sérieux.
  • Feminine forms: sérieuse (sg), sérieuses (pl). You’d say ses mères sont sérieuses if you used the feminine noun mères.
Does quand here mean “when” or “whenever”? What about tenses?
  • With the present tense, quand usually has a habitual sense: “when/whenever they talk about homework.”
  • For future time in French, use the future in both clauses: Ils seront sérieux quand ils parleront des devoirs (not the English-style present after “when”).
  • To emphasize “whenever,” you can also use chaque fois que.
Why is the pronoun ils used? Could it be elles or eux?
  • Ils is the standard subject pronoun for a group that is mixed or not specified as all-female.
  • Elles is possible only if you clearly mean an all-female group (e.g., two mothers) and that is known in context.
  • Eux is a stressed pronoun; it cannot be the subject of a verb here.
Why parler de? What’s the difference between parler de and parler à?
  • Parler de [quelque chose] = to talk about something: parler des devoirs.
  • Parler à [quelqu’un] = to talk to someone: parler aux parents.
  • When you later replace “de + thing” with a pronoun, use en: Ils en parlent (“They talk about it”).
In des devoirs, is des the plural article “some,” or is it de + les? How should I interpret it?
  • Here, after parler de, des is often understood as the contraction of de + les (“about the homework” that’s known in context, e.g., the child’s homework).
  • If you want to speak about homework in general as a concept, you can say parler de devoirs (no article after de).
Can I use the singular devoir for “homework”?
  • In the school sense, French typically uses the plural: les devoirs = “homework.”
  • Un devoir = a single assignment/paper (countable task).
  • Le devoir can also mean “duty,” which is a different meaning.
Could I use lorsque instead of quand?
  • Yes: lorsque and quand are interchangeable in most time clauses. Lorsque is a bit more formal/literary.
  • You can’t use lorsque in direct questions (only quand ? works there).
Can I put the quand-clause first? Any punctuation changes?
  • Yes: Quand ils parlent des devoirs, ses parents sont sérieux.
  • When the time clause comes first, add a comma after it. No comma is needed when it comes last.
How should I pronounce key parts of the sentence?
  • ses: [se] (like “say” without the y-glide)
  • parents: [pa-ʁɑ̃]; final -s is silent
  • sont: [sɔ̃] (nasal vowel)
  • sérieux: [se-ʁjø]; final -x is silent; keep the accented é
  • quand: [kɑ̃]; nasal vowel; optional liaison before a vowel: quand ils can be [kɑ̃‿t‿il] (the -d links as a [t])
  • parlent: [paʁl]; final -ent is silent
  • devoirs: [də-vwaʁ]
  • No liaison between a noun and the following verb, so no link in parents sont.
Are sérieux, stricts, and sévères interchangeable?
  • Sérieux: serious in tone/attitude (not joking, focused).
  • Stricts: strict with rules/discipline.
  • Sévères: severe/harsh (often a stronger, stricter nuance than stricts).
  • Choose based on the nuance you want.
Could I replace des devoirs with a pronoun?
  • Yes, use en for “about it/them”: Ses parents sont sérieux quand ils en parlent.
  • Keep word order: subject + verb + en (before the verb it belongs to).