Breakdown of Paul est parfois jaloux quand Marie parle avec son ami d'enfance.
Questions & Answers about Paul est parfois jaloux quand Marie parle avec son ami d'enfance.
Adjectives in French agree with the gender and number of the noun they describe.
- Paul is a masculine singular noun.
- The adjective jaloux is the masculine singular form.
- The feminine form would be jalouse (for example: Marie est jalouse.)
So we say Paul est jaloux, but Marie est jalouse.
If it were a group of men or a mixed group, it would be jaloux (plural), and a group of only women would be jalouses.
In French, many adverbs (especially of frequency and manner) are commonly placed after the conjugated verb:
- Paul est parfois jaloux.
You could also put parfois at the very beginning or very end of the sentence:
- Parfois, Paul est jaloux quand Marie parle…
- Paul est jaloux parfois quand Marie parle…
All are grammatically correct. The neutral, most typical position is after est (the conjugated verb être). Putting parfois at the beginning or the end slightly emphasizes sometimes more.
Quand introduces a time clause: when something happens. Here it means whenever / when Marie talks with her childhood friend (a repeated or habitual situation).
- Quand = when
- Lorsque = when (more formal, often interchangeable with quand in this kind of sentence)
- Si = if
You could say:
- Paul est parfois jaloux lorsque Marie parle avec son ami d’enfance.
That’s fine and just a bit more formal.
You cannot use si here, because the meaning is temporal (when), not conditional (if).
The verb is parler (to talk / to speak), and it’s conjugated in the present tense.
- Je parle
- Tu parles
- Il/Elle/On parle
- Nous parlons
- Vous parlez
- Ils/Elles parlent
Marie is elle, so you use parle (3rd person singular).
- parler is the infinitive (to speak).
- parles is the tu form (you speak).
So Marie parle = Marie speaks / Marie is speaking.
French uses different prepositions with parler depending on the meaning:
- parler avec quelqu’un = to talk with someone (interaction, conversation)
- parler à quelqu’un = to talk to someone (direction of speech)
- parler de quelqu’un / de quelque chose = to talk about someone/something (topic)
In the sentence, Marie is having a conversation with her childhood friend, so parle avec son ami d’enfance is natural.
You could also say parle à son ami d’enfance, but that slightly emphasizes speaking to him rather than a mutual with.
By itself, son ami d’enfance can mean:
- his childhood friend
- her childhood friend
In French, son / sa / ses agree with the thing possessed, not with the possessor’s gender:
- son ami = his/her (masculine singular friend)
- sa amie would be ugly to pronounce, so we use son amie (because ami(e) starts with a vowel sound)
- ses amis = his/her friends (plural)
In this sentence, son ami d’enfance most naturally refers to Marie’s childhood friend, because it’s in the clause:
- quand Marie parle avec son ami d’enfance
So context suggests: when Marie talks with her childhood friend.
If needed, French can clarify: son ami d’enfance à elle (her) / à lui (his).
Again, son / sa / ses agree with the noun that follows, not with the owner:
- ami (friend, masculine) → son ami
- amie (friend, feminine) → normally sa amie,
but because amie starts with a vowel sound, French uses son amie to make pronunciation smoother.
So:
- son ami d’enfance = his/her childhood friend (male friend)
- son amie d’enfance = his/her childhood friend (female friend)
The fact that Marie is female does not force sa; the gender of ami / amie does.
d’enfance = de + enfance (of childhood).
- enfance = childhood
- de enfance would be awkward to pronounce, so de becomes d’ before a vowel sound.
So ami d’enfance literally means friend of childhood, which in natural English is childhood friend.
The apostrophe shows the usual contraction of de before a vowel (just like d’amour, d’expérience, etc.).
Yes, both are possible but the meaning changes:
- un ami d’enfance = a childhood friend (one of possibly several; not tied to a specific person already known in the context)
- son ami d’enfance = her (or his) childhood friend (a particular friend linked to Marie in the context)
In the original sentence, son indicates a specific known relationship: it’s her own childhood friend, not just any childhood friend.
Often jaloux is followed by de when you say who or what someone is jealous of:
- Paul est jaloux de son frère. – Paul is jealous of his brother.
- Elle est jalouse de sa collègue.
In your sentence, jaloux is not directly followed by the object of jealousy; instead, it’s followed by a time clause (introduced by quand), which describes when and in what situation Paul feels jealous:
- Paul est parfois jaloux quand Marie parle avec son ami d’enfance.
→ He becomes jealous when that situation happens.
So the clause with quand plays the role of the triggering situation, not the object after de.
Yes, you can, with slight nuance differences:
- Paul est jaloux = Paul is jealous (describes his emotional state in that situation; neutral, simple).
- Paul devient jaloux = Paul becomes jealous (focus on the change of state when Marie talks with her friend).
- Paul se sent jaloux = Paul feels jealous (emphasizes his subjective feeling).
All are grammatically correct; the original est jaloux is the most straightforward and common.
You have several natural word orders, each with a tiny shift of emphasis:
Paul est parfois jaloux quand Marie parle…
– Neutral, standard word order.Parfois, Paul est jaloux quand Marie parle…
– Emphasizes sometimes (you’re starting with the time frame).Paul, parfois, est jaloux quand Marie parle…
– More stylistic/oral, with extra pauses, often spoken.
All are grammatically correct. The original version is the most typical written form.