Learn Hardcore French: Ce couple ne boit qu'une bière, puis il rentre tôt à la maison. - This couple drinks only one beer, then they go home early.

Ce couple ne boit qu’une bière ≈ “This couple only drinks one beer.”
Compare with real negation:
- Ce couple ne boit pas de bière. = “This couple doesn’t drink beer.”

So:

ne … que = only
ne … pas / ne … jamais, etc. = not / never

Even though ne appears, the sentence is not negative in meaning; it just limits the action to one beer.

Why is it ne boit qu’une bière and not ne boit qu’une de bière or ne boit pas de bière?

Two key points:

Ne … que does not change the article the way real negation does.
- Real negation: Il ne boit pas de bière.
- Restriction: Il ne boit qu’une bière. (We keep une.)
Une bière means literally “one beer” (countable item), not an unspecified quantity.
- You would only use de bière with something like a quantity word:
  - un peu de bière, un verre de bière, pas de bière, etc.

So ne boit qu’une bière is correct and means: they drink exactly one beer, nothing more.

What is qu’ in qu’une bière, and why is there an apostrophe?

Qu’ is just the word que that has been elided (shortened) before a vowel sound.

ne … que → ne … qu’
- vowel
qu’une = que une → qu’une

This elision is compulsory in writing and speaking when que comes directly before a word starting with a vowel or a mute h:

qu’un ami (que + un ami)
qu’une heure (que + une heure)

Why is the pronoun il used after ce couple? Shouldn’t it be ils because a couple is two people?

In French, pronouns agree with grammar, not with the actual number of people involved.

Couple is a singular, masculine noun.
Therefore its pronoun is il, not ils.

So:

Ce couple ne boit qu’une bière, puis il rentre tôt à la maison.
= “This couple drinks only one beer, then it goes home early.”

This is similar to English sometimes treating a group as a unit:

“The team wins; it is very strong.” (American English)

In everyday speech, you might occasionally hear people shift to ils to focus on the two individuals, but the standard, grammatically correct form in this sentence is il.

Why is the present tense (boit, rentre) used? Does it mean this happens right now or regularly?

French present tense (le présent) covers several uses:

Current action (happening now)
Habitual action (what usually happens)
A series of events in a narrative

In this sentence, context suggests a habitual/general meaning:

Ce couple ne boit qu’une bière, puis il rentre tôt à la maison.
≈ “This couple only has one beer, then they go home early (that’s what they do / that’s their habit).”

French doesn’t need does or will or usually: the simple present can cover all of that, depending on context.

What exactly does rentrer mean here, and how is it different from retourner or aller?

Aller = to go (to a place)
Retourner = to go back (to a place where you were before, not necessarily home)
Rentrer = to go back home or go back inside (to your base / usual place)

In this sentence:

il rentre tôt à la maison = they go back home early.

If you said:

Ce couple retourne au bar. = They go back to the bar (again).
Ce couple rentre tôt. = They go back home early (home is implied).

So rentrer is the natural verb for “go home (back).”

Why is it à la maison and not something like chez eux or just maison?

À la maison is an idiomatic way to say “(at) home”:

Ils rentrent à la maison. = They go (back) home.

A few points:

You must use the article:
- ✅ à la maison
- ❌ à maison
Chez eux also means “to their home”, but it focuses more on “their place” as belonging to them:
- Ils rentrent chez eux. = They go back to their (own) place.
À la maison is more neutral, like “home” in English.
Chez eux can emphasize “their place” as opposed to someone else’s.

In this sentence, à la maison is simply the standard, neutral way to say “home.”

Why is tôt placed before à la maison? Could we say rentre à la maison tôt instead?

The usual, natural order in French is:

Verb + short adverb + complement

So:

il rentre tôt à la maison is the neutral, most common order.

Rentre à la maison tôt is not impossible, but it sounds a bit less natural and can feel slightly more marked or emphatic, like you are stressing “at home” vs other possible destinations.

General rule: short adverbs like tôt, bien, mal, vite usually go right after the verb, before the rest of the phrase:

Il mange vite son repas.
Elle parle bien français.
Ils rentrent tôt à la maison.

What does puis express here, and how is it different from words like et puis, ensuite, or après?

Puis is a linker meaning “then / and then”, introducing the next step in a sequence:

Ce couple ne boit qu’une bière, puis il rentre tôt à la maison.
= They have one beer, then they go home.

Nuances:

puis – neutral “then”, often used in written or careful speech.
et puis – a bit more informal, conversational “and then”.
ensuite – “then / next / afterwards”, often for sequencing explanations or procedures.
après – “afterwards / after that”.

In this sentence, puis just marks the next step in the evening: one beer → then home.

How is boit formed from the verb boire, and what pattern does this verb follow?

Boire (to drink) is irregular. In the present tense:

je bois
tu bois
il / elle / on boit
nous buvons
vous buvez
ils / elles boivent

So boit is the 3rd person singular form (il/elle/on).
That’s why we have:

Ce couple ne boit qu’une bière…

because the subject ce couple is singular.