Learn Hardcore French: Marie leur apporte du pain et du fromage quand ils viennent. - Marie brings them bread and cheese when they come.

It replaces à eux / à elles.
It refers to a group of people already known from the context.
In this sentence, it most naturally refers to the same people as ils (the ones who come), so: Marie brings them bread and cheese when they come.

Why is it leur apporte and not apporte leur, like in English “brings them”?

In French, object pronouns normally go before the conjugated verb in simple tenses:

Marie leur apporte… = Marie brings them…

The standard order is: subject + object pronoun(s) + verb + (rest of the sentence)

So:

✅ Marie leur apporte du pain.
❌ Marie apporte leur du pain. (wrong order)

What is the difference between leur and les? When would the sentence use les instead?

leur = indirect object pronoun, meaning to them
les = direct object pronoun, meaning them

The verb apporter is used like this:

apporter quelque chose à quelqu’un
(to bring something to someone)

Because of the à quelqu’un, the people are an indirect object, so you need leur.

Compare:

Marie leur apporte du pain.
Marie brings them bread. (brings bread to them)
Marie les apporte.
Marie brings them. (here “them” would be the things, e.g. the breads/cheeses, as direct objects)

Why is it leur and not eux here?

Leur and eux are different types of pronouns:

leur = unstressed indirect object pronoun (to them)
→ must go before the verb: Marie leur apporte…
eux = stressed (disjunctive) pronoun (them for emphasis, after prepositions, alone, etc.)
→ used in positions like:
- avec eux (with them)
- chez eux (at their place)
- Pour eux, c’est important. (For them, it’s important.)
- C’est à eux. (It belongs to them.)

You can combine them for emphasis:

Marie leur apporte du pain, à eux.
(Marie brings bread to them, not to others.)

But on its own before the verb, you must use leur, not eux.

Why is the verb apporte (singular) and not apportent (plural)?

The verb agrees with the subject, not with leur.

Subject = Marie → 3rd person singular
So the verb must be apporte.

Leur is just an object pronoun and doesn’t affect the verb ending.

✅ Marie leur apporte du pain.
❌ Marie leur apportent du pain. (wrong, plural verb with singular subject)

Could we use a different verb instead of apporte, like donne or amène? What is the nuance?

Yes, you could, but the meaning shifts slightly:

apporter = to bring (an object) to someone/somewhere
Focus on movement of a thing toward a place/person.
→ Best choice with du pain et du fromage.
donner = to give
Focus on handing something over, not on the movement.
→ Marie leur donne du pain et du fromage = She gives them bread and cheese.
amener = to bring (a person or animal)
Normally used for people/animals, not inanimate objects.
→ Marie amène les enfants (Marie brings the children),
but amener du pain sounds odd.

So apporter is the natural, idiomatic choice here.

Why is it du pain and not le pain or just pain without any article?

Du here is the partitive article (de + le) and means some.

French normally needs an article in front of a noun. For an unspecified quantity of a mass noun like bread, you use the partitive:

du pain = (some) bread
de la confiture = (some) jam
de l’eau = (some) water

Alternatives:

le pain = the bread (a specific bread, or bread in general as an abstract category)
Just pain without an article is not correct in this context.

Similarly, why is it du fromage and not des fromages?

Again, du fromage is the partitive: some cheese (an unspecified amount).

du fromage = some cheese (mass, uncountable sense)
des fromages = some cheeses (several cheeses, often different types or individual cheeses)

So:

Marie leur apporte du fromage.
→ She brings them (some) cheese.
Marie leur apporte des fromages.
→ She brings them several cheeses / various cheeses.

Do we have to repeat du before fromage? Could we say Marie leur apporte du pain et fromage?

In standard French, you should repeat the article:

✅ Marie leur apporte du pain et du fromage.
❌ Marie leur apporte du pain et fromage. (sounds incorrect or very careless)

Each noun in a list normally keeps its own article. Dropping the second du in this case is not considered correct in careful French.

What does quand ils viennent express here? Is it about now, the future, or a general habit?

With the present tense, quand ils viennent expresses a general, repeated habit:

Marie leur apporte du pain et du fromage quand ils viennent.
≈ “Marie brings them bread and cheese when(ever) they come (over).”

It doesn’t describe one specific visit or a single future event, but what usually happens whenever they come.

Why is it ils viennent and not ils viendront after quand?

Because the sentence describes a habit, not a single future situation. In French:

Habitual/general fact → present + present
Marie leur apporte du pain quand ils viennent.

If you were talking about a specific future event, you would normally use the future in both clauses:

Marie leur apportera du pain et du fromage quand ils viendront.
Marie will bring them bread and cheese when they come.

Could we say quand ils viennent chez elle? Is chez elle implied in the original sentence?

Yes, you can add chez elle:

Marie leur apporte du pain et du fromage quand ils viennent chez elle.

In many contexts, quand ils viennent will naturally be understood as “when they come (to her place)”, so chez elle is often implied and not strictly necessary. Adding it just makes the location explicit.

Do leur and ils refer to the same people in this sentence?

Most likely yes:

leur = to them (indirect object)
ils = they (subject of viennent)

In context, it’s natural to understand that:

They (ils) are the same people as them (leur):
Marie brings bread and cheese to the people who come.

Grammatically, French doesn’t force them to be the same group, but in normal usage here they almost always are.

Is leur always plural? Could it ever mean to him / to her?

As an indirect object pronoun (the role it has here), leur is only plural and always means to them.

lui = to him / to her (singular)
leur = to them (plural)

Example:

Marie lui apporte du pain. → Marie brings him/her bread.
Marie leur apporte du pain. → Marie brings them bread.

Note: leur can also be a possessive adjective (leur maison = their house). In that other role it doesn’t show singular/plural for the owners, but that’s a different grammar point. In this sentence, it is clearly the pronoun (so plural).

How would you make this sentence negative? Where do ne and pas go with leur apporte?

The negation surrounds the verb (and stays together with the pronoun):

Marie ne leur apporte pas de pain ni de fromage quand ils viennent.

Points to notice:

ne comes before the pronoun+verb: ne leur apporte.
pas comes after the verb: apporte pas.
du pain / du fromage become de pain / de fromage after pas.
(Partitive du → de in a negative sentence.)
You can use ni… ni… (neither… nor…) to link the two nouns.