Les étudiants discutent de leurs droits à l'université pendant une réunion de groupe.

The students discuss their rights at the university during a group meeting.

Breakdown of Les étudiants discutent de leurs droits à l'université pendant une réunion de groupe.

• pendant: during
• à: at
• de: of
• leur: their
• la réunion: the meeting
• discuter: to discuss
• l'étudiant: the student
• l'université: the university
• le groupe: the group
• le droit: the right

Questions & Answers about Les étudiants discutent de leurs droits à l'université pendant une réunion de groupe.

Why is it discutent de leurs droits and not discutent leurs droits like in English “discuss their rights”?

In French, the verb discuter is usually followed by de when it means to talk about / to discuss (a topic).

• Correct:
  
  • discuter de quelque chose → to discuss / talk about something
    
    • Les étudiants discutent de leurs droits.
• Incorrect (in this meaning):
  
  • ✗ discuter leurs droits

There is a transitive form discuter quelque chose, but it has a more specific sense: to debate / challenge / question something, often something official:

• discuter le prix = to haggle / negotiate the price
• discuter une décision = to contest / challenge a decision

Here, the sense is simply “talk about their rights”, so French needs discuter de leurs droits.

Why is it leurs droits and not leur droit or ses droits?

Two things are happening: possessive agreement (leur / leurs) and plural noun (droit / droits).

1. Plural owners → leur / leurs

   • leur = their
     • singular thing
   • leurs = their
     • plural thing

   Here, we have:

   • owners: les étudiants (plural)
   • thing owned: droits (rights) → plural

   So we must use leurs:

   • leurs droits = their rights

2. Why droits (plural)? In French, like in English, people usually talk about multiple rights:

   • un droit = one right
   • des droits = (some) rights

   Since students normally have several rights, droits is plural.

3. Why not ses droits?

   • ses refers back to il / elle / on (he/she/one) or sometimes a singular person.
   • The subject here is les étudiants (they).
     So we use leurs, not ses.

So: leurs droits = the (many) rights belonging to the (many) students.

Why is it Les étudiants and not just Étudiants discutent… or Des étudiants discutent…?

In French, you almost always need an article before a noun (le, la, les, un, une, des, etc.). Bare nouns like in English (Students discuss…) are not normally allowed.

• Les étudiants = the students
  Here, this can mean either:

  • a specific group of students already known in the context, or
  • students in general in this situation (often French uses le / la / les for generalizations).

• Des étudiants = (some) students (an unspecified group)

  • Des étudiants discutent de leurs droits… = Some students discuss their rights…
    This would slightly change the meaning: it’s not “the” students as a group, but just some of them.

• ✗ Étudiants discutent… is not grammatical in standard French; you must have an article: Les étudiants, Des étudiants, Ces étudiants, etc.

Why is it à l'université and not dans l'université or en université?

À l'université is the natural way to say at the university / at university when talking about the institution or the place in general.

• à l'université

  • Most common, neutral choice.
  • Can mean at the university as an institution or simply on campus / at university.
  • Les étudiants discutent de leurs droits à l'université.
    → They discuss their rights at university / in the university context.

• dans l'université

  • Focuses more on the inside of the building (physically inside).
  • You might say this if you really want to insist on being inside the premises:
    
    • Ils se perdent dans l'université. = They get lost inside the university.

• en université

  • Not used in this sense.
  • You might see en fac (informal, at uni), or à la fac (at uni), but en université is not natural here.

So à l'université is the standard expression for at university.

What does pendant add here? Could we use something else instead of pendant?

Pendant indicates that the action happens during a period of time.

• pendant une réunion de groupe = during a group meeting / while a group meeting is taking place.

Other options and nuances:

• durant une réunion de groupe

  • Very close in meaning to pendant, a bit more formal/literary; often interchangeable.

• lors d'une réunion de groupe

  • More formal, often used in written French.
  • Focuses more on the event as the occasion: on the occasion of a group meeting.

• pour une réunion de groupe

  • Means for a group meeting (purpose), not during.
  • Different meaning: they meet for a group meeting, not necessarily that the discussion is happening throughout it.

Here, pendant is natural, clear, and neutral: during a group meeting.

Why is it une réunion de groupe and not la réunion du groupe? What’s the difference?

The structure NOUN + de + NOUN in French can express either:

1. Type / kind of thing (general / descriptive)

   • une réunion de groupe = a group meeting (a meeting whose type is a group meeting)
   • similar to:
     • une réunion de travail = a work meeting
     • un cours de français = a French class

2. Possession / belonging (specific group)

   • la réunion du groupe = the meeting of the group (the group’s specific meeting)

In your sentence:

• une réunion de groupe suggests the kind of meeting: a meeting that is in group format, maybe one of many such meetings.
• la réunion du groupe would focus on one particular group that has its own meeting (perhaps a specific club, committee, etc.).

The original sentence is talking about a group meeting as a type of event, not “the group’s official meeting”, so une réunion de groupe is the best fit.

How is discutent pronounced? Is the -ent at the end silent?

Yes, in discutent the -ent ending is silent.

• les étudiants discutent → pronounced roughly like [lé zé-tu-dïan dis-kut]
  • les and étudiants have a liaison: les étudiants → [lé zé-tu-dïan]
  • discutent is pronounced the same as discute (the je/tu/il form):
    
    • discutent → [dis-kut]
    • the -ent is not pronounced in the present tense 3rd person plural.

So even though it’s written discutent, you say it just like discute.

Does discutent here mean “discuss” or “are discussing”? How do you say the progressive “are discussing” in French?

The French present tense covers both:

• English simple present:
  
  • They discuss their rights…
• English present continuous:
  
  • They are discussing their rights…

So Les étudiants discutent de leurs droits… can mean:

• The students discuss their rights… (habitually, in general)
• or The students are discussing their rights… (right now), depending on context.

If you really want to insist on the idea of right now, you can use:

• Les étudiants sont en train de discuter de leurs droits…
  = The students are in the middle of discussing their rights…

But in most situations, the simple present discutent is enough and natural.

Can the word order change? For example, could we say Les étudiants, pendant une réunion de groupe, discutent de leurs droits à l’université?

Yes, French word order is flexible for adverbial phrases (time, place, manner), as long as it remains clear and natural.

All of these are possible, with slightly different emphasis:

1. Les étudiants discutent de leurs droits à l’université pendant une réunion de groupe.

   • Most neutral order: subject → verb → what → where → when.

2. Les étudiants discutent, pendant une réunion de groupe, de leurs droits à l’université.

   • Puts more focus on the fact that it’s during a group meeting.
   • The commas add a slight pause, often more written-style.

3. Pendant une réunion de groupe, les étudiants discutent de leurs droits à l’université.

   • Emphasizes the time frame: During a group meeting, the students…

All are grammatically correct. The original is the most straightforward, everyday style.

Could we say parlent de leurs droits instead of discutent de leurs droits? Is there a difference?

You can say both, but there is a nuance:

• parler de = to talk about

  • Les étudiants parlent de leurs droits…
    → They talk about their rights (more general/neutral verb).

• discuter de = to discuss / to have a discussion about

  • Focuses a bit more on an exchange of opinions, maybe something organized or more serious.

In many contexts, they can be interchangeable, but:

• discuter de leurs droits suggests a more focused or deliberate discussion, which fits well with the idea of a meeting.
• parler de leurs droits is slightly broader: they are talking about them, maybe less structured.

In this sentence with pendant une réunion de groupe, discutent de leurs droits sounds especially appropriate.