Learn Hardcore French: Le professeur explique une règle de grammaire et corrige aussi notre prononciation. - The teacher explains a grammar rule and also corrects our pronunciation.

Le professeur suggests a specific teacher that is already known from context (for example, “our teacher”, “the teacher of this class”).
Un professeur would introduce a teacher that has not been identified yet, more like “a (some) teacher”.

So:

Le professeur explique… = The teacher explains… (the one we know)
Un professeur explique… = A teacher explains… (some teacher, not specified)

In many classroom contexts in French, le professeur is used by default, because which teacher is usually obvious (your current teacher).

How do explique and corrige work in terms of tense? Can they mean “is explaining” and “is correcting”?

Yes. Explique and corrige are in the présent de l’indicatif (simple present).

French simple present usually covers both:

English simple present: The teacher explains…
English present progressive: The teacher is explaining…

So:

Le professeur explique une règle… can mean:
- The teacher explains a grammar rule (habit, general fact), or
- The teacher is explaining a grammar rule (right now).

You generally do not say est expliquant in French; that form is incorrect for the present progressive idea.

Why is it une règle (feminine) and not un règle?

In French, every noun has a grammatical gender. The word règle happens to be feminine, so it takes une:

une règle = a rule / a ruler (the object)
la règle = the rule / the ruler

There is no logical reason from an English point of view; you just have to learn the gender with the noun:

une règle, la règle (feminine)
un livre, le livre (masculine), etc.

A useful habit: when you learn vocabulary, memorize the article with it:

une règle (f.), not just règle.

Why do we say une règle de grammaire and not une règle de la grammaire?

De grammaire here is a general classification: “a grammar rule” = “a rule of grammar (in general)”.

une règle de grammaire = a grammar rule (any rule belonging to the system of grammar)
de without an article is common when you specify type:
- un livre de cuisine = a cookbook
- une leçon de musique = a music lesson
- une règle de grammaire = a grammar rule

De la grammaire would sound more like:

une règle de la grammaire française = a rule of French grammar (more specific, the grammar of French as a system)

In everyday speech, une règle de grammaire is the natural way to say “a grammar rule”.

Could we say une règle grammaticale instead of une règle de grammaire?

Yes, you can. Both are correct:

une règle de grammaire = a grammar rule
une règle grammaticale = a grammatical rule

They are very close in meaning. Règle de grammaire is a bit more neutral and common in teaching contexts. Règle grammaticale sounds slightly more formal or technical, but it’s fully natural.

Does expliquer need a preposition like “to” (as in “to explain something to someone”)? Where would “to us” go?

The verb expliquer works like this:

expliquer quelque chose à quelqu’un
= to explain something to someone.

In your sentence, only the thing being explained is mentioned (a rule), not the person who receives the explanation.

If you want to say “to us”, you would normally add nous as an indirect object pronoun:

Le professeur nous explique une règle de grammaire. = The teacher explains a grammar rule to us.

Combined with the rest of the sentence:

Le professeur nous explique une règle de grammaire et corrige aussi notre prononciation.
= The teacher explains a grammar rule to us and also corrects our pronunciation.

Why is aussi placed before notre prononciation? Can we move it?

In the sentence:

…et corrige aussi notre prononciation.

Aussi is an adverb meaning also / too. Placing it before notre prononciation is very natural; it tends to attach to the verb phrase:

corrige aussi notre prononciation = also corrects our pronunciation.

You can move aussi, but word order slightly changes the focus:

Le professeur explique une règle de grammaire et corrige aussi notre prononciation.
– Neutral: he does two things; in addition to explaining, he corrects pronunciation.
Le professeur explique aussi une règle de grammaire et corrige notre prononciation.
– Implies he already does other things, and explaining grammar rules is one more thing he also does.
Le professeur explique une règle de grammaire et corrige notre prononciation aussi.
– More spoken and a bit heavier style; aussi is now attached to the whole second clause: He explains a grammar rule and he corrects our pronunciation as well.

The original placement is the most neutral and “textbook” in this context.

Why is there no article before notre prononciation?

In French, possessive adjectives (mon, ton, son, notre, votre, leur, etc.) replace the article:

la prononciation = the pronunciation
notre prononciation = our pronunciation (no article needed)

You never say:

❌ la notre prononciation

Compare:

le livre → notre livre (our book)
la maison → notre maison (our house)
les idées → nos idées (our ideas)

So notre functions like both “the” and “our” combined; it stands directly before the noun.

What is the difference between notre and nos, and why is it notre prononciation here?

Notre and nos both mean our, but:

notre is used with a singular noun (masculine or feminine):
- notre professeur = our teacher
- notre maison = our house
- notre prononciation = our pronunciation (as one collective thing)
nos is used with a plural noun:
- nos professeurs = our teachers
- nos maisons = our houses
- nos prononciations = our pronunciations

In this sentence, we talk about one pronunciation (the group’s pronunciation as a whole), so we use notre prononciation.

How would the sentence change if the teacher is a woman? Does professeur change?

French is still in transition on this point, so you will see different forms.

Common options:

Keep the noun the same and change only the article:
- La professeur explique une règle de grammaire…
  Many speakers use this; professeur stays unchanged in form, but the article la shows it’s a woman.
Use the feminine form professeure (now common and recommended in many places):
- La professeure explique une règle de grammaire…
In informal speech, people often say:
- La prof = the (female) teacher, informal.

So for a female teacher, a neutral written version today is often:

La professeure explique une règle de grammaire et corrige aussi notre prononciation.

Why is there an e at the end of corrige, and how is it pronounced?

The verb is corriger (to correct). For il/elle/on corrige:

The e at the end is not pronounced; it is silent.
It is there mainly for spelling reasons: to keep the soft g sound [ʒ] before e.

Without that final e, the g would be hard [g] before a, o, u, but before e, i, y you generally already get the soft sound. Here, the conjugation pattern and spelling rules give:

corriger → il corrige [il kɔ.ʁiʒ]

So:

corrige is pronounced approximately [kɔ.ʁiʒ] (ko-REEZH in English approximation),
the final written e does not add a syllable or a sound; it just helps keep the correct g sound.

Is the French word order here fixed, or could we move things around like in English questions?

In statements like this, French word order is quite fixed:

Subject + verb + objects/complements
Le professeur explique une règle de grammaire et corrige aussi notre prononciation.

You cannot make a statement by saying:

❌ Explique le professeur une règle de grammaire… (this looks like a question structure)

In a yes/no question, you could invert:

Le professeur explique-t-il une règle de grammaire et corrige-t-il aussi notre prononciation ?
= Does the teacher explain a grammar rule and also correct our pronunciation?

But for a simple declarative sentence, the original order is the natural one in French.