Learn Hardcore French: Ce couple parle souvent de son avenir quand il se promène le soir. - This couple often talks about their future when they walk in the evening.

In French, the possessive adjective (son / sa / ses, leur / leurs) agrees first with the grammar of the subject, not the real number of people.

Ce couple is grammatically singular, so you refer back to it with il and son.
Avenir is masculine singular, so the only possible possessive for a singular owner is son.

Ce couple parle de son avenir = “This couple talks about its future” (their shared future as a unit).

You could say Ce couple parle de leur avenir, but that would sound more like “This couple talks about their (separate) futures,” as if emphasizing each individual’s own path. The sentence with son is more natural for “their future together.”

Why is the verb parle (singular) and not parlent?

Again, because ce couple is grammatically singular.

Ce couple → 3rd person singular → il
So the verb agrees: il parle, not ils parlent.

Even though a couple has two people, French treats the word couple like un groupe, une équipe, etc.: the verb usually stays singular when the group word is the subject.

Why is it quand il se promène and not quand ils se promènent?

The pronoun il refers back to ce couple, which is singular and masculine.

Ce couple … il se promène → “This couple … it goes for a walk”

If the sentence instead used ils, it would no longer refer grammatically to ce couple, but to les deux personnes (the two people) explicitly. That’s possible, but you would normally then say something like:

Ce couple parle souvent de son avenir. Ils se promènent le soir.

That’s now two sentences with a change of subject: first “the couple,” then “they (the two people).” In the original sentence, everything stays centered on ce couple as a single unit.

Why is the pronoun il used for ce couple? Shouldn’t it be elle because “couple” refers to two people and might include a woman?

In French, pronouns follow grammatical gender, not biological sex.

Couple is a masculine noun: un couple
So the pronoun is il, just as for un groupe → il, un orchestre → il.

Whether the couple is man–woman, woman–woman, or man–man doesn’t affect the pronoun: it’s still il because the noun couple is masculine.

Why is it ce couple and not cet couple or cette couple?

The demonstrative adjective has to agree with the noun:

Couple is masculine: un couple
It begins with a consonant sound (k), so you use ce.

Forms:

ce
- masculine, starting with consonant: ce couple
cet
- masculine, starting with a vowel or mute h: cet homme, cet arbre
cette
- feminine: cette femme, cette équipe

Why is it parle de son avenir and not parle sur son avenir?

With parler, the usual prepositions are:

parler de + chose / sujet = to talk about something
- Ils parlent de leur avenir. = They talk about their future.
parler à + personne = to speak to someone
- Elle parle à son mari. = She speaks to her husband.
parler + langue (no preposition) = to speak a language
- Il parle français.

Parler sur exists but is rare and sounds wrong or very unusual in this context. For “talk about their future,” you almost always say parler de leur avenir.

Why is the adverb souvent placed after parle? Could I say Ce couple souvent parle de son avenir?

In French, most short adverbs of frequency (like souvent, toujours, jamais) normally come right after the conjugated verb:

Ce couple parle souvent de son avenir.

Putting souvent before the verb (… souvent parle …) sounds wrong in standard modern French.

With compound tenses like the passé composé, these adverbs usually go between the auxiliary and the past participle:

Ce couple a souvent parlé de son avenir.

Why do we need the reflexive form se promène and not just promène?

There’s an important difference:

promener (non‑reflexive) = to walk something/someone
- Il promène le chien. = He walks the dog.
se promener (reflexive) = to go for a walk, to stroll (yourself)
- Il se promène. = He goes for a walk / He is walking around.

So quand il se promène le soir means “when they go for a walk in the evening.”
If you said quand il promène le soir, French speakers would expect an object: quand il promène le chien le soir (“when he walks the dog in the evening”).

What does le soir add exactly? Why not just say quand il se promène?

Le soir indicates habitual time: in the evening, generally, as a routine.

quand il se promène = when they go for a walk (without saying when)
quand il se promène le soir = when they go for a walk in the evening (as a regular time of day)

Using the definite article le here expresses something like “in the evenings / in the evening (as a general time).” It suggests a repeated or typical habit.

What’s the difference between le soir and les soirs / tous les soirs?

All can express habitual actions, but with slightly different nuance:

le soir: “in the evening (in general)”
- Ce couple se promène le soir. = They usually/typically walk in the evening.
les soirs: “in the evenings” (more clearly plural/habitual, but used less often in this kind of simple sentence)
tous les soirs: “every evening”
- Ce couple se promène tous les soirs. = They go for a walk every single evening.

In your sentence, le soir is the most natural, neutral way to say they do this in the evening as a habit.

What’s the difference between le soir and la soirée? Could we say quand il se promène en soirée?

Soir and soirée are related but not identical:

le soir = the evening as a time of day (more neutral/objective)
- Je travaille le soir. = I work in the evening.
la soirée = the duration or experience of the evening; more about the “evening event”
- J’ai passé une bonne soirée. = I had a nice evening.

You could say en soirée in some contexts, but quand il se promène le soir is far more natural here. En soirée would sound more like “in the course of the evening,” and in this simple habitual sentence it feels a bit too fancy or marked.

Could we say futur instead of avenir? What’s the difference between avenir and futur?

They’re close, but not used in exactly the same way.

avenir is the more common word for someone’s personal future, plans, prospects:
- Il pense à son avenir. = He thinks about his future.
futur is more abstract, often used:
- in grammar: le futur simple
- in expressions like le futur de l’humanité, le futur de la planète
- in some fixed phrases: dans un futur proche

In your sentence, parler de son avenir is the natural choice for “talk about their future (life together).”
Parler de leur futur is not wrong, but it’s less idiomatic and can sound a bit heavier or more technical.