Learn Hardcore French: Elle prépare son CV ce soir et demande à Paul de le relire. - She is preparing her résumé tonight and asks Paul to read it again.

CV is a masculine noun in French: un CV.
Because CV is masculine singular, you must use son, regardless of whether the owner is a man or a woman.

So:

Elle prépare son CV.
Il prépare son CV.

Both are correct, because son refers to CV (masculine), not to elle or il.

What exactly does CV mean in French? Is it the same as résumé in English?

Yes, un CV in French is the equivalent of an English résumé (a document listing your education, work experience, skills, etc.).

Details:

CV stands for curriculum vitae, just like in English.
It is masculine: un CV, le CV, son CV.
In everyday speech it is pronounced roughly like sé-vé in French.

So préparer son CV means to prepare / work on one’s résumé.

Why is prépare in the present tense if the action is in the future (ce soir)?

French often uses the present tense to talk about the near future, especially when there is a clear time expression like ce soir, demain, la semaine prochaine.

So:

Elle prépare son CV ce soir.
= She is preparing / will prepare her CV this evening.

This is similar to English She is preparing her CV tonight, where the present continuous refers to the future. French simply uses the plain present instead of a special future form in many everyday contexts when the time is specified.

What role does à play in demande à Paul?

With the meaning to ask someone to do something, the verb demander requires the preposition à before the person:

demander à quelqu’un de faire quelque chose

In the sentence:

Elle demande à Paul de le relire.

Paul is the person being asked, so he is an indirect object, introduced by à:

à Paul = to Paul

Literally: She asks to Paul to reread it.
Natural English: She asks Paul to reread it.

Why is it demande à Paul de le relire and not demande Paul de le relire or demande Paul à le relire?

Because demander has a specific construction when you mean ask someone to do something:

Pattern: demander à quelqu’un de + infinitive

So you must say:

demander à Paul de relire
not:
demander Paul de relire ❌ (missing à)
demander Paul à relire ❌ (wrong placement of à)

In full:

Elle demande à Paul de le relire.
= She asks Paul to reread it.

What does le refer to in de le relire, and why is it masculine?

Le is a direct object pronoun that replaces a masculine singular noun.

In this sentence, it replaces son CV:

Elle prépare son CV ce soir et demande à Paul de le relire.
le = son CV

CV is masculine (un CV), so the pronoun must be the masculine singular le.

If the object were feminine (for example la lettre), you would use la:

Elle prépare la lettre et demande à Paul de la relire.

Why does le go before relire (as in de le relire) and not after it (as in de relire le)?

In French, object pronouns usually come before the verb they go with.

With infinitives, they go before the infinitive:

le relire (to reread it)
not
relire le ❌

So the sequence is:

preposition de
pronoun le
infinitive relire

→ de le relire

Same pattern with other pronouns:

de la relire (to reread it – feminine)
de les relire (to reread them)
de le faire (to do it)

What is the difference between lire and relire?

lire = to read
relire = to read again, to reread

In context, relire un CV is often understood as to reread / to proofread the CV (checking for mistakes, clarity, etc.).

Examples:

Je lis le texte. = I read the text.
Je relis le texte. = I read the text again / I reread the text (often to check it).

Could we say Elle va préparer son CV ce soir instead? What is the difference?

Yes, you can say:

Elle va préparer son CV ce soir.

This uses the futur proche (near future): aller + infinitive.

Comparison:

Elle prépare son CV ce soir.
Elle va préparer son CV ce soir.

Both refer to the near future and are correct.
Nuance:

Elle prépare son CV ce soir. = simple present with a future time; very natural in speech, feels like a scheduled plan.
Elle va préparer son CV ce soir. = slightly more explicit about the idea of going to do it, sometimes a bit more intentional.

In everyday conversation, both are common and largely interchangeable here.

Can we replace demande à Paul de le relire with lui demande de le relire?

Yes.

À Paul is an indirect object, so it can be replaced by the indirect object pronoun lui:

Elle demande à Paul de le relire.
Elle lui demande de le relire.

Both mean She asks him to reread it.

Word order:

The indirect object pronoun lui goes before the conjugated verb demande.
The direct object pronoun le goes before the infinitive relire.

So:

Elle lui demande de le relire.
(you cannot say Elle demande lui de le relire ❌)

Why is it ce soir and not cet soir or cette soir?

Soir is a masculine noun: le soir.

The demonstrative adjective ce (this/that) has different forms:

ce
- masculine consonant: ce soir, ce livre
cet
- masculine vowel or mute h: cet homme, cet été
cette
- feminine: cette femme, cette année
ces
- plural: ces soirs, ces livres

Because soir is masculine and starts with a consonant, the correct form is:

ce soir = this evening / tonight

Is et here like and then in English? Could we say puis instead?

In the sentence, et simply links two actions:

Elle prépare son CV ce soir
(et) demande à Paul de le relire.

In English we might say:

She is preparing her CV this evening and then asking Paul to reread it.

French often uses et where English would say and then. Using puis would also be possible and would make the sequence a bit more explicit:

Elle prépare son CV ce soir puis demande à Paul de le relire.

So:

et = and (often understood as and then from context)
puis = then / and then, with a slightly stronger idea of sequence.