Learn Hardcore French: Comme sa langue maternelle est très différente, Paul doit encore traduire quelques mots dans sa tête. - Because his native language is very different, Paul still has to translate some words in his head.

Comme at the beginning of a sentence usually means “since / as / because” and introduces a reason that is already known or is more like background information.

Comme sa langue maternelle est très différente, Paul doit encore traduire quelques mots dans sa tête.
= Since / As his native language is very different, Paul still has to translate a few words in his head.

You could also say:

Parce que sa langue maternelle est très différente, Paul doit encore traduire quelques mots dans sa tête.
Paul doit encore traduire quelques mots dans sa tête parce que sa langue maternelle est très différente.

The basic meaning (“because…”) is the same, but:

comme is very natural at the beginning of the sentence and sounds a bit more formal or narrative.
parce que is the default “because,” often used in the middle of the sentence after the main clause, but it can also start the sentence.

So it’s more about style and emphasis than a big difference in meaning here.

Why is it sa langue maternelle and not son langue maternelle if Paul is male?

In French, possessive adjectives (son, sa, ses) agree with the gender and number of the thing owned, not the owner.

langue is a feminine singular noun → you must use sa.
- sa langue maternelle = his / her native language

Compare:

son livre (his/her book) → livre is masculine.
sa voiture (his/her car) → voiture is feminine.
ses amis (his/her friends) → amis is plural.

So even if Paul is a man, you still say sa langue, because langue is feminine.

One extra detail: if the owned noun is feminine but starts with a vowel, French uses son (for euphony), e.g.:

son amie (his/her (female) friend), not sa amie.

What exactly does langue maternelle mean? Is it the same as “native language”?

Yes, langue maternelle means “mother tongue” / “native language.”

Literally:

langue = tongue / language
maternelle = maternal, from the mother

So sa langue maternelle = his/her mother tongue = his/her native language.

There are other possible expressions, but they are less standard:

langue natale – also “native language,” but used less often.
langue d’origine – language of origin, often used in immigration or heritage contexts.

In normal everyday French, langue maternelle is the default expression for “native language.”

Why is it différente with an -e at the end? Why not différent?

Adjectives in French must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

Here, différente is describing langue, which is:

feminine
singular

So we use:

différent → masculine singular
différente → feminine singular (needed here)
différents → masculine plural
différentes → feminine plural

Because langue is feminine singular, we must say:

une langue très différente
sa langue maternelle est très différente

If the noun were masculine, for example langage (masculine), you would say:

son langage est très différent.

What does encore mean here? Is it “again” or “still”?

In this sentence, encore means “still”:

Paul doit encore traduire quelques mots dans sa tête.
= Paul still has to translate a few words in his head.

encore can mean both “again” and “still,” depending on context and word order.

Some patterns:

encore = still
- Il est encore là. → He is still there.
- Paul doit encore traduire… → Paul still has to translate…
encore = again
- Il a encore oublié. → He forgot again.
- Fais-le encore ! → Do it again!

When encore is used with a modal like devoir (doit encore + infinitive) and there is no idea of repetition, it is usually understood as “still.”

Why is it Paul doit encore traduire and not just Paul traduit encore?

The choice between devoir + infinitive and the simple present changes the meaning:

Paul doit encore traduire quelques mots…
- devoir + infinitive expresses obligation or necessity.
- Meaning: He still has to translate a few words (he’s not yet able to avoid translating).
Paul traduit encore quelques mots…
- Simple present traduire describes what he does.
- Meaning: He still translates a few words (he still ends up translating them).
- This can sound more like a habit or ongoing fact, not so clearly about necessity.

In the original sentence, the idea is that because his native language is very different, he is still obliged/forced to translate in his head, so devoir is the natural choice.

Why is it quelques mots and not des mots or quelques des mots?

quelques means “a few / some” and is used directly before a plural noun without another article:

quelques mots = a few words
quelques amis = a few friends
quelques idées = a few ideas

You do not say quelques des mots in this context; that is ungrammatical.

Compare:

des mots = (some) words, unspecific plural.
quelques mots = specifically a few words, a small number.
quelques-uns des mots = a few of the words (a subset of a known group).

So:

Paul doit encore traduire des mots. → He still has to translate words.
Paul doit encore traduire quelques mots. → He still has to translate a few words.
Paul doit encore traduire quelques-uns des mots. → He still has to translate a few of the words (from a specific set you already mentioned).

In the given sentence, the idea is simply “a few words” in general, so quelques mots is correct.

Is quelques masculine or feminine? Why isn’t there agreement?

quelques (meaning “a few / some”) is invariable in gender. It always looks the same for masculine and feminine:

quelques mots (masculine plural)
quelques phrases (feminine plural)

The only requirement: it is used only with plural nouns, and it always has an -s:

✅ quelques livres
✅ quelques personnes
❌ quelque livres (wrong here)

Be careful not to confuse it with quelque (without s), which can mean “some / a bit / about” before a singular noun or a number:

quelque temps = some time
quelque trente personnes = about thirty people

Is dans sa tête necessary? Could you just say Paul doit encore traduire quelques mots?

You can drop dans sa tête:

Paul doit encore traduire quelques mots.

This still makes sense and probably would be understood as mental translation from context.

However, dans sa tête makes it explicit that the translation is mental, internal, not written or spoken:

Paul doit encore traduire quelques mots dans sa tête.
= He still has to translate a few words in his head.

You could also say:

Paul doit encore traduire quelques mots mentalement.

So dans sa tête is not grammatically required, but it adds clarity about the type of translation.

Could we say Comme sa langue maternelle est très différente, il doit encore traduire quelques mots dans sa tête instead of repeating Paul?

Yes, that’s perfectly correct:

Comme sa langue maternelle est très différente, il doit encore traduire quelques mots dans sa tête.

Both versions are grammatically fine:

Comme sa langue maternelle est très différente, Paul doit encore traduire…
Comme sa langue maternelle est très différente, il doit encore traduire…

Using Paul again can add a bit of clarity or emphasis on the person, especially if there are several people in the context. Using il is more neutral and avoids repeating the name. It’s mostly a stylistic choice here.