Learn Hardcore French: Dans cette classe, les élèves parlent souvent français entre eux. - In this class, the students often speak French with each other.

ce – masculine singular (before a consonant): ce livre (this book)
cet – masculine singular (before a vowel or mute h): cet homme (this man)
cette – feminine singular: cette voiture (this car)
ces – plural (masc. or fem.): ces livres, ces voitures

The noun classe is feminine singular, so you must use cette:

✅ cette classe – this class
❌ ce classe, ❌ cet classe – wrong, because classe is not masculine
❌ ces classe – wrong number (plural demonstrative with a singular noun)

So: Dans cette classe = In this class.

What exactly does classe mean here? Is it the room or the group of students?

Classe can mean two main things:

The group of students (like “the class of 5B”)
A lesson / class session (“I have math class at 10”)

For the physical room, French usually says la salle de classe (literally “the classroom”).

In Dans cette classe, les élèves parlent souvent français entre eux, it can be understood as:

In this class (this group), the pupils often speak French among themselves, or
In this classroom, the pupils often speak French among themselves.

Context usually clears it up, and in everyday speech both readings are often possible without causing confusion.

Why is it les élèves and not des élèves?

les élèves = the pupils (a specific, known group)
des élèves = some pupils (an unspecified group)

Here, we’re clearly talking about the pupils of this particular class, a defined group. In French, when you make a general statement about a specific group, you usually use the definite article:

Les élèves de cette classe travaillent beaucoup.
The pupils of this class work a lot.

Using des élèves would sound like you mean just some random pupils (not necessarily all of them in the class), and it would feel less like a description of the class as a whole:

Dans cette classe, des élèves parlent souvent français entre eux.
This would sound more like: In this class, some pupils often speak French among themselves (implying not all).

What is the difference between élèves and étudiants?

Both translate to students, but they are used for different educational levels:

élève: usually for schoolchildren
- Primary/elementary school
- Middle school
- High school
étudiant(e): usually for university / higher education students

So in a school context, you normally say les élèves; at university, you say les étudiants.

Your sentence suggests we’re talking about school kids, not university students.

Why is the verb parlent and not parle?

The subject is les élèves (the pupils), which is third person plural (they).

The verb parler in the present tense:

je parle – I speak
tu parles – you speak (singular, informal)
il / elle / on parle – he / she / one speaks
nous parlons – we speak
vous parlez – you speak (plural or formal)
ils / elles parlent – they speak

Since les élèves = ils/elles (they), the correct form is parlent:

✅ Les élèves parlent… – The pupils speak…
❌ Les élèves parle… – wrong, subject–verb agreement error.

Why is there no article before français? Why not parlent souvent le français?

With the verb parler and a language, French normally drops the article:

parler français – to speak French
parler anglais – to speak English
parler espagnol – to speak Spanish

So:

✅ Ils parlent français. – They speak French.
✅ Les élèves parlent souvent français. – The pupils often speak French.

You do use the definite article in other structures:

Le français est difficile. – French is difficult.
J’aime le français. – I like French.
Le cours de français commence à 9 h. – The French class starts at 9.

But after parler + [language], the usual, natural form is without the article.

Why is souvent placed after parlent? Could I say it somewhere else?

In French, most adverbs of frequency (like souvent, rarement, toujours) are placed after the conjugated verb:

Ils parlent souvent français. – They often speak French.
Je vais rarement au cinéma. – I rarely go to the cinema.

So parlent souvent is the default, natural word order.

Alternative placements:

Les élèves parlent français souvent entre eux.
This is possible but sounds less neutral; it can add a bit of emphasis on souvent or sound slightly heavier.
Souvent, les élèves parlent français entre eux.
This is also fine and is used for emphasis or style: Often, the pupils speak French among themselves.

What you don’t say in neutral French is:

❌ Les élèves souvent parlent français… (sounds wrong or at least very odd in modern French)

What does entre eux mean exactly, and why eux?

entre eux literally means “between them”, but the natural English translation here is “among themselves”.

entre = between / among
eux = them (stressed pronoun, masculine or mixed group)

So parler français entre eux = to speak French among themselves.

Why eux?

French uses stressed pronouns (moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles) after entre:

entre moi et toi – between you and me
entre nous – among us
entre vous – among you
entre eux – among them (masculine or mixed group)
entre elles – among them (all-female group)

If the class is mixed or if you don’t want to specify, you normally default to eux.

Could I say Les élèves se parlent souvent en français instead? What’s the difference with parlent souvent français entre eux?

Both are correct but not identical in nuance.

Les élèves parlent souvent français entre eux.
- Focus: the language they use among themselves.
- Meaning: When they talk with each other, they often use French (as opposed to another language).
Les élèves se parlent souvent en français.
- se parlent is reflexive, literally “talk to each other.”
- Focus: both the fact they talk to each other and the language they use.
- Very natural translation: The pupils often talk to each other in French.

So:

If you care mainly about which language they use among themselves, parlent souvent français entre eux is perfect.
If you want to stress they talk to one another, and they do so in French, se parlent souvent en français works well.

Does the French present tense here mean “often speak” or “are often speaking”? How does that work?

French has one present tense (le présent) that covers both English simple present and present continuous.

So:

Les élèves parlent souvent français entre eux. can mean:
- The pupils often speak French among themselves.
- The pupils are often speaking French among themselves.

Context tells you whether you’re describing a habit or an ongoing situation; the French form doesn’t change.

French does not use être en train de for habitual actions, so you would not say:

❌ Les élèves sont en train de parler souvent français entre eux.

You’d only use être en train de for an action happening right now, and even then souvent (often) doesn’t go well with it, because “right now” and “often” clash.