Learn Hardcore French: Demain, Paul doit présenter son projet professionnel devant le groupe. - Tomorrow, Paul has to present his professional project in front of the group.

In French, the present tense is very often used to talk about the near future when there is a time expression like demain, ce soir, la semaine prochaine, etc.

Demain, Paul doit présenter son projet… = Tomorrow, Paul has to present his project.
The time word demain is enough to show it’s future.

You could use a future form, but it changes nuance:

Demain, Paul présentera son projet… = A simple statement about a future event (neutral, factual).
Demain, Paul devra présenter son projet… = Focuses more on the future obligation itself.

The original sentence is very natural and idiomatic French.

What exactly is the nuance of doit here? Is it more like “must,” “has to,” or “is supposed to”?

The verb devoir (here doit) can cover all of these: must / has to / is supposed to.

In this context, doit présenter suggests an obligation or requirement (maybe it’s part of a course, a meeting, a training, etc.).
In English you could translate it as:
- Tomorrow, Paul *has to present his project…*
- Tomorrow, Paul *must present his project…*
- Tomorrow, Paul *is supposed to present his project…*

The exact English choice depends on how strong you want the obligation to sound, but the French doit is compatible with all those readings.

Why is it doit présenter and not doit présente?

After devoir, French uses the infinitive of the main verb, not a conjugated form.

devoir + infinitive → doit présenter
présenter is the infinitive (“to present”).
présente would be the present tense il/elle présente, which is not used after devoir.

Compare:

Paul présente son projet. = Paul presents / is presenting his project.
Paul doit présenter son projet. = Paul has to present his project.

Could we say Demain, Paul présentera son projet professionnel devant le groupe instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, that sentence is correct, but the nuance changes:

Demain, Paul doit présenter…
- Emphasises obligation or duty.
- Suggests this is something he has to do (because of rules, a schedule, a teacher, a boss, etc.).
Demain, Paul présentera…
- Neutral future: just says that this will happen.
- Doesn’t explicitly say if it’s an obligation or simply planned.

So both are grammatical; the original sentence makes the obligatory aspect explicit.

Could we say Demain, Paul devra présenter son projet… instead of doit présenter? How does that change the meaning?

Yes, Demain, Paul devra présenter son projet professionnel devant le groupe is also correct.

Differences:

doit présenter (present) with demain:
- Very common and natural.
- Suggests that right now, it is already decided/required that tomorrow he has to present.
devra présenter (future):
- Focuses on the obligation as a future fact.
- Slightly more formal or “written” in feel, or used when you’re talking about a future rule / requirement.

In everyday speech, doit présenter with a time word like demain is more frequent.

Why is it son projet professionnel and not sa projet professionnel or ses projet professionnel?

French possessive adjectives (son / sa / ses) agree with the noun possessed, not with the person who possesses it.

projet is masculine singular → you must use son.
If it were plural (projets), you’d use ses.
If the noun were feminine singular (e.g. idée), you’d use son idée (because it starts with a vowel sound) or sa before a consonant, depending on pronunciation.

So:

son projet = his project / her project (we only know it’s someone’s project; gender of the owner doesn’t matter grammatically here).

Does son projet automatically mean “his project”? What if Paul were a woman?

Son projet does not grammatically mark the owner’s gender; it only marks the gender of the noun “projet” (masculine).

son projet = his project or her project, depending on context.
If Paul were Pauline, the French would still be son projet, because projet is masculine.

So context (the name, the situation) tells you whether it’s “his” or “her” in English, but French keeps son because of projet.

What exactly does projet professionnel mean? Is it literally “professional project”?

Literally it is “professional project”, but in natural English it usually means something like:

career plan
career project / career goals
professional plan (e.g. what job he wants, how he plans to get there, etc.)

In French, un projet professionnel commonly refers to:

Someone’s intended career path (job, field, level of responsibility).
A structured plan for their professional future (often discussed in schools, training programs, career counseling).

So it’s more about career orientation than a one-off work project.

Why is it devant le groupe and not something like au groupe?

Devant means “in front of” (in a spatial sense).

devant le groupe = in front of the group, i.e. physically standing before them, giving a presentation.

If you said au groupe, that would be “to the group”, and it sounds more like:

addressing them as an audience, but not necessarily with the physical image of standing in front of them.

For a presentation scenario, devant le groupe is the natural French way to express “in front of the group.”

Could we say présenter son projet professionnel au groupe instead of devant le groupe?

Yes, présenter son projet professionnel au groupe is also grammatical and understandable:

au groupe (à + le) focuses more on the recipient: presenting the project to the group.
devant le groupe focuses more on the physical situation: standing in front of them.

In many contexts they overlap, but devant le groupe more strongly evokes a formal presentation setting (like standing at the front of the room).

Why is there a comma after Demain? Is it necessary, and can demain go somewhere else?

The comma after Demain is normal because Demain is a fronted time expression.

All of these are possible:

Demain, Paul doit présenter son projet… (most natural; comma standard in writing)
Paul doit présenter son projet demain devant le groupe.
Paul, demain, doit présenter son projet… (possible but more marked in style).

So:

The comma is correct and usual when the time word is put at the front.
You can also move demain to the middle or end of the sentence.

How would object pronouns work here if we replace son projet professionnel with le?

With devoir + infinitive, the object pronoun goes before the infinitive, not before doit:

Full sentence: Demain, Paul doit présenter son projet professionnel devant le groupe.
With a pronoun: Demain, Paul doit le présenter devant le groupe.

Pattern:

sujet + forme de “devoir” + pronom objet + infinitif
- Paul doit le présenter.

Are there any tricky pronunciation points in Demain, Paul doit présenter son projet professionnel devant le groupe?

A few points:

Final consonants:
- Paul: final l is pronounced.
- doit: final t is silent.
- devant: final t is silent.
Nasal vowels:
- demain → nasal in sound at the end.
- devant → nasal an sound at the end.
No important liaisons here (e.g. no pronounced link between doit and présenter, because présenter starts with a consonant).

Spoken smoothly, it flows as a single rhythm group:
Demain / Paul doit présenter / son projet professionnel / devant le groupe.