Learn Hardcore French: Pendant le match, Marie marque un but et tout le monde autour du terrain est content. - During the game, Marie scores a goal and everyone around the field is happy.

French often uses the present tense to tell a story or describe a sequence of events, even if they are finished. This is called the “présent de narration” (narrative present).

Marie marque un but = Marie scores a goal (narrative, vivid, like live commentary).
Marie a marqué un but = Marie scored a goal (plain past statement).

Both can be correct, but marque makes the action feel more immediate, as if you are watching the match happen.

Why is it marque un but and not something like fait un but?

In French, the fixed expression for “to score a goal” in sports is marquer un but.

marquer un but = to score a goal
faire un but sounds incorrect or at best very unnatural in standard French.
In other sports:
- marquer un point = to score a point
- marquer un essai (rugby) = to score a try

So you should learn marquer with but as a set phrase.

Why is it tout le monde … est content and not sont contents?

Even though tout le monde means “everybody / everyone” (many people), in French it is treated as grammatically singular:

tout le monde est (never tout le monde sont)
tout le monde est content (not contents)

So the verb and the adjective agree with the singular idea: “everyone” = “one whole group”.

Why is the adjective content masculine singular, even though there are men and women in “everyone”?

In French, tout le monde is grammatically masculine singular, regardless of the actual people involved.

With tout le monde, use masculine singular adjectives:
- tout le monde est content
- tout le monde est fatigué
- tout le monde est prêt

You do not say contente, contents, or contentes after tout le monde.

What is the difference between terrain and stade?

le terrain (here: le terrain de sport)
= the pitch / field / playing area itself (the grass or surface where players run).
le stade
= the stadium (the whole structure: stands, seats, building).

In autour du terrain, we are picturing people standing or sitting around the pitch, close to the game itself, rather than in the entire stadium complex.

Why is it autour du terrain and not autour de le terrain?

French contracts de + le into du:

de + le terrain → du terrain
So autour de le terrain is grammatically wrong; it must be autour du terrain.

Other examples:

près du parc (près de + le parc)
à côté du cinéma (à côté de + le cinéma)

Could you also say autour du stade instead of autour du terrain?

Yes, but it changes the image slightly:

autour du terrain = around the pitch itself (close to the players).
autour du stade = around the stadium building (maybe outside, or more generally in/around the stadium).

In the original sentence, autour du terrain suggests people are positioned right by the playing area.

Why do we use pendant le match and not something else like durant le match?

Both pendant and durant can mean “during”:

pendant le match = during the match
durant le match = during the match (a bit more formal or literary).

Pendant is the most common, neutral choice in everyday speech. Durant is perfectly correct but slightly less frequent and can sound a bit more formal.

Can I put pendant le match at the end of the sentence instead of the beginning?

Yes. Both word orders are correct:

Pendant le match, Marie marque un but…
Marie marque un but pendant le match…

Putting pendant le match at the beginning sets the time frame first. At the end, it feels a bit more like extra information you add after the main action. Grammatically, both are fine.

Why is there a comma after Pendant le match?

Pendant le match is an introductory time phrase. In French, it is common (though not absolutely mandatory) to separate such an introductory element from the main clause with a comma:

Pendant le match, Marie marque un but…
Après le repas, nous sortons.
Le matin, je bois un café.

You could omit the comma in very informal writing, but it is standard and recommended to keep it.

Could we say pendant un match instead of pendant le match? What’s the difference?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:

pendant le match = during the match (a specific match we know about, already identified in context).
pendant un match = during a match (any match, not specifically identified).

The original sentence suggests we are talking about a particular match already known to the speakers.

Why is it autour du terrain est content and not something like autour du terrain sont contents?

The verb and adjective agreement do not follow autour du terrain; they follow tout le monde.

Structure:

Subject: tout le monde autour du terrain
Verb: est
Adjective: content

So:

tout le monde autour du terrain est content
(One subject: tout le monde, singular.)

You cannot make est or content agree with autour du terrain, because autour du terrain is just extra information about where those people are, not a separate subject.