Learn Hardcore French: À l'université, Paul trouve que la matière la plus difficile pour lui est la biologie. - At the university, Paul thinks that the most difficult subject for him is biology.

en université – incorrect
dans l'université – would mean inside the actual building of the university, focusing on the physical interior, which is not what is meant in the sentence.

So À l'université corresponds to the general English idea At university (as a student), not physically inside the building.

Why is it À l'université and not À la université?

Because of elision (dropping a vowel sound before another vowel).

The normal feminine definite article is la, but when the following word begins with a vowel (or silent h), la becomes l':

la université → l'université
la école → l'école

So we have:

à + l' (for a feminine noun starting with a vowel) → à l'université

This is not a special contraction of à la; it’s just the regular rule for the article la becoming l' before a vowel sound.

What is the function of the accent in À l'université? Could we write A l'université?

The accent in à distinguishes it from a:

à = the preposition at / to
a = has (3rd person singular of avoir)

In standard French spelling, you must write À l'université, not A l'université. Without the accent, it’s considered a spelling mistake.

In Paul trouve que…, why does trouve mean thinks / considers and not finds (as in “finds an object”)?

The verb trouver has two common meanings:

to find (physically):
- Paul trouve son livre. – Paul finds his book.
to think / consider / feel (that), when followed by a direct object or a que clause:
- Paul trouve que cette matière est difficile. – Paul thinks / finds (that) this subject is difficult.
- Je trouve ce film intéressant. – I think this film is interesting.

In the sentence Paul trouve que la matière la plus difficile pour lui est la biologie, it’s clearly about his opinion, not about discovering something physically, so trouve is understood as thinks / considers.

Why do we need que after trouve? Could we say Paul trouve la matière la plus difficile pour lui est la biologie?

In French, when a verb like trouver, penser, croire introduces a full clause (a complete sentence with a subject and verb), you must use que to link them:

Paul trouve que la matière la plus difficile pour lui est la biologie.

You cannot drop que in French the way you can drop that in English.

The version without que:

Paul trouve la matière la plus difficile pour lui est la biologie

is ungrammatical, because trouver would then expect a direct object (like Paul trouve la matière), but what follows is actually a whole clause (la matière… est la biologie). The que is required to introduce that clause.

Why is la matière used to mean subject and not sujet?

In the context of school or university, French normally uses:

une matière = a school subject, a field of study
- la matière préférée de Paul est l’histoire.

The word sujet exists, but it means:

topic / subject of conversation / essay question, etc.
- le sujet de la rédaction – the essay topic
- changer de sujet – to change the subject (of conversation)

So for academic subjects like biology, history, math, French uses matière, not sujet.

Why do we have la matière la plus difficile with la twice? Isn’t one la enough?

Each la has a different role:

First la = the definite article for matière:
- la matière – the subject
Second la = the definite article used in the superlative with plus:
- la plus difficile – the most difficult (feminine singular)

So la matière la plus difficile literally breaks down as:

la matière (the subject)
la plus difficile (the most difficult one)

French generally keeps both articles in this structure: le livre le plus intéressant, la ville la plus grande, etc.

Why is it la plus difficile and not le plus difficile?

The form of the article in the superlative (le / la / les plus) agrees with the noun it refers to, not with the person affected:

la matière la plus difficile
- matière is feminine singular → la plus difficile
le cours le plus intéressant
- cours is masculine singular → le plus intéressant
les matières les plus intéressantes
- matières is feminine plural → les plus intéressantes

Here, la plus difficile refers back to la matière, which is feminine singular, so la is required.

Why doesn’t difficile change form between masculine and feminine?

Some adjectives in French have the same form for masculine and feminine in the singular. Difficile is one of them:

un exercice difficile – a difficult exercise (masc.)
une matière difficile – a difficult subject (fem.)

In the plural, you usually just add s:

des exercices difficiles
des matières difficiles

So difficile looks the same whether it’s masculine or feminine in the singular.

Why is it pour lui and not pour il?

After prepositions like pour, avec, sans, etc., French uses the stressed pronouns (also called disjunctive pronouns):

moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles

So we say:

pour lui – for him
avec elle – with her
sans eux – without them

Subject pronouns (je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles) cannot be used after a preposition. So pour il is wrong; it must be pour lui.

What is the nuance added by pour lui? Could we remove it?

Pour lui means for him / in his case / in his opinion. It makes clear that this difficulty is personal to Paul.

La matière la plus difficile est la biologie.
→ Biology is the most difficult subject (in general).
La matière la plus difficile pour lui est la biologie.
→ For him specifically, the most difficult subject is biology.

Grammatically, you can remove pour lui, but you lose the nuance that it’s his personal experience, not an objective statement.

Could we put pour lui in a different place, like Pour lui, la matière la plus difficile est la biologie?

Yes. French word order is quite flexible for elements like pour lui, especially when you want to emphasize them. All of these are possible:

Pour lui, la matière la plus difficile est la biologie.
(Stronger emphasis on for him.)
La matière la plus difficile pour lui est la biologie.
(More neutral.)

You usually wouldn’t place pour lui right between est and la biologie in this sentence, because est la biologie forms a tight unit (verb + subject complement).

Why do we say la biologie with la, when in English we just say biology without “the”?

In French, names of school subjects normally take a definite article:

la biologie – biology
les mathématiques / les maths – math(s)
l’histoire – history
le français – French

So where English says Biology is difficult, French typically says:

La biologie est difficile.

Using the article here is normal and expected in French.

Could we say … pour lui, c’est la biologie instead of … pour lui est la biologie? What is the difference between est and c’est?

Yes, a very natural variant would be:

À l'université, Paul trouve que la matière la plus difficile pour lui, c’est la biologie.

Differences:

est la biologie
- more neutral, slightly more formal or written style.
- keeps the classic subject + être + complement order inside the clause.
c’est la biologie
- more oral, more emphatic; often used in spoken French.
- c’est can highlight or emphasize what follows, like it’s biology that…

Both are grammatically correct; the version with c’est just sounds a bit more conversational.

Why is the verb after trouve que in the present indicative (est) and not the subjunctive?

The subjunctive in French is triggered by certain expressions of doubt, necessity, desire, fear, etc. Verbs like penser que, croire que, trouver que normally take the indicative when the main clause is affirmative, because they express a simple opinion or belief:

Je trouve que c’est difficile. – I think it is difficult.

They would only move toward the subjunctive if used in a negative or very doubtful context, and even then trouver que rarely does so in everyday French. In this sentence, it’s a straightforward statement of Paul’s opinion, so est (indicative) is correct and natural.