Nous communiquons souvent par courriel avec nos amis.

We often communicate by email with our friends.

Breakdown of Nous communiquons souvent par courriel avec nos amis.

• l'ami: the friend
• avec: with
• nous: we
• souvent: often
• nos: our
• par: by
• le courriel: the email
• communiquer: to communicate

Questions & Answers about Nous communiquons souvent par courriel avec nos amis.

What tense and person is communiquons, and how is it formed?

Communiquons is the present tense, first person plural (we) form of the verb communiquer (to communicate).

For regular -er verbs like communiquer, the present-tense endings are:

• je communique
• tu communiques
• il / elle / on communique
• nous communiquons
• vous communiquez
• ils / elles communiquent

Notice the spelling communiquons, with -qu-. The q is kept before -ons to preserve the hard k sound /kɔ̃/ at the end.

Why is nous used here? Could I say on communique souvent par courriel avec nos amis instead?

Nous is the standard, explicit “we” in French. It’s common in writing and in more formal speech.

In everyday spoken French, people often prefer on to mean “we”:

• On communique souvent par courriel avec nos amis.

This sounds more natural in casual conversation.

Grammar points:

• Nous takes the nous form of the verb: nous communiquons.
• On takes the il/elle form: on communique.

Both sentences are correct; the difference is mainly tone: nous is more formal or written; on is more colloquial.

Why is souvent placed after communiquons and not somewhere else?

In French, adverbs of frequency like souvent (often) usually go right after the conjugated verb:

• Nous communiquons souvent par courriel avec nos amis.

You have a few other possibilities:

• Souvent, nous communiquons par courriel avec nos amis. (emphasis on “often”)

What you normally don’t do is copy English word order:

• ❌ Nous souvent communiquons… (wrong)

Putting souvent at the very end:

• Nous communiquons par courriel avec nos amis, souvent.

is possible in speech for emphasis, but the neutral, standard position is after the verb: communiquons souvent.

Why do we use par in par courriel? Could we use en instead?

Par is the usual preposition for expressing means or channel (how something is done):

• par téléphone – by phone
• par la poste – by (snail) mail
• par SMS – by text
• par avion – by plane
• par courriel – by email

So par courriel literally means “by email (as a means of communication)”.

Using en courriel is not natural French in this context; par is the correct choice here.

You can move the phrase, but the preposition stays the same:

• Nous communiquons souvent avec nos amis par courriel. ✅

What exactly does courriel mean, and is it the same as email?

Courriel means “email” (electronic mail). It comes from courrier électronique.

Usage differences:

• In Canada (especially Quebec), courriel is the standard and very common word.
• In France, people much more often say un mail or un e-mail in everyday speech. Courriel tends to sound formal or administrative there.

All of these can mean “an email”:

• un courriel
• un e-mail
• un mail

So par courriel = “by email” / “via email”.

What gender is courriel, and why is there no article before it in par courriel?

Courriel is masculine:

• un courriel – an email
• le courriel – the email
• ce courriel – this email
• mon courriel – my email

In the sentence, there is no article because with par + means of communication/transport, French often drops the article:

• par téléphone (not par le téléphone in this meaning)
• par courrier
• par avion
• par courriel

There are some fixed expressions that do take an article, like par la poste, but par courriel without an article is the normal form.

Why is it avec nos amis and not à nos amis?

The verb communiquer can use different prepositions depending on the structure:

1. communiquer avec quelqu’un
   = to communicate with someone (mutual exchange)
   → Nous communiquons avec nos amis.

2. communiquer quelque chose à quelqu’un
   = to communicate something to someone (transmit information)
   → Nous communiquons nos décisions à nos amis.

In your sentence, the idea is “we communicate with our friends”, a two-way interaction, so avec is the correct preposition:

• Nous communiquons souvent par courriel avec nos amis. ✅
• Nous communiquons souvent par courriel à nos amis. ❌ in this structure (it sounds like something is missing).

Why do we say nos amis and not des amis or les amis?

Nos is a possessive adjective meaning “our”:

• nos amis – our friends

It agrees in number with amis, which is plural:

• mon ami (my friend, m. sg.)
• mes amis (my friends)
• notre ami (our friend)
• nos amis (our friends)

Other options would change the meaning:

• avec des amis – with (some) friends, not specifically “ours”
• avec les amis – with the friends (a specific group you already know from context)

The sentence wants to say “with our friends”, so nos amis is the natural choice.

Also, in French you cannot combine an article with a possessive in front of a noun:

• ❌ avec les nos amis
• ✅ avec nos amis

Why is it amis and not amies? How would I say “with our (female) friends”?

Amis is the masculine plural form of ami (friend).

French rules:

• A group of all men → amis
• A mixed group (men + women) → still amis (masculine wins in mixed groups)
• A group of all women → amies

So:

• nos amis – our friends (all male or mixed group)
• nos amies – our (all) female friends

If you specifically want to say “with our (all) female friends”, you’d say:

• Nous communiquons souvent par courriel avec nos amies.

How do you pronounce Nous communiquons souvent par courriel avec nos amis?

Approximate pronunciation (continental French):

• Nous → /nu/
• communiquons → /kɔ.my.ni.kɔ̃/ (final -ons is a nasal sound, not “on”)
• souvent → /su.vɑ̃/ (final t is silent)
• par → /paʁ/ (French r at the back of the throat)
• courriel → /kuʁ.jɛl/
• avec → /a.vɛk/
• nos → /no/
• amis → /a.mi/ (final s is silent)

Spoken smoothly:

/nu kɔ.my.ni.kɔ̃ suvɑ̃ paʁ kuʁjɛl avɛk noz‿ami/

Note the liaison between nos and amis: nos amis is pronounced like no-z-ami.