Learn Hardcore French: Après le cours, Marie écrit un court résumé d’un paragraphe. - After class, Marie writes a short one‑paragraph summary.

Leaving out the article (Après cours) is not natural standard French here. You need le because you’re referring to a specific, identifiable event: the class Marie just had.

Why is it “le cours” and not “la cours” or something else?

The noun cours (class, lesson, course) is masculine in French, so it uses masculine determiners:

le cours (the class)
un cours (a class)
ce cours (this class)

Classe (la classe) also exists, but it usually means:

the group of students: la classe de Marie = Marie’s class (group)
the classroom: la classe est sale = the classroom is dirty

When you mean “a lesson / a class session,” French normally uses un cours, not une classe.

Why is it “Marie écrit” and not “Marie écris”?

This is verb conjugation. The verb is écrire (to write). In the present tense:

j’écris – I write
tu écris – you write (singular, informal)
il / elle / on écrit – he / she / one writes
nous écrivons – we write
vous écrivez – you write (plural/formal)
ils / elles écrivent – they write

Marie = elle, so you must use the 3rd person singular form: elle écrit.
Écris is only for je and tu, not for elle / Marie.

Is “écrit” here the present tense or the past tense? How would I say “Marie wrote a short summary”?

In the sentence:

Marie écrit un court résumé…

écrit is present tense, 3rd person singular: she writes / is writing.

To say “Marie wrote a short summary”, you’d normally use the passé composé:

Après le cours, Marie a écrit un court résumé d’un paragraphe.

Here the past is formed with:

auxiliary: a (from avoir)
past participle: écrit

Note: the written form écrit is the same for:

il/elle écrit (present)
écrit (past participle)

You tell them apart by the auxiliary (a, avait, etc.) and context.

Why is it “un court résumé” and not “un résumé court”?

In French, many adjectives can go before or after the noun, but the position often changes the meaning or nuance.

Court means:

before the noun: un court résumé = a brief summary (figurative, about duration/quantity)
after the noun: un résumé court = a summary that is short in length (more literal, physical length/size)

In practice, with résumé, both would usually be understood similarly, but un court résumé sounds more idiomatic when you mean a brief summary.

Position before the noun is common for adjectives that express subjective or evaluative qualities, such as:

petit, grand, bon, mauvais, beau, joli, long, court, jeune, vieux (among others)

What exactly does “résumé” mean here? Is it like an English “résumé” (CV)?

No. This is a classic false friend.

French un résumé = a summary, a short text that condenses the main ideas.
English a résumé = a CV, a document listing your work and education.

In French, a CV is usually:

un CV
or un curriculum vitæ

So in this sentence, un court résumé d’un paragraphe means “a short summary of one paragraph.”

Why is it “d’un paragraphe” and not “de un paragraphe”?

French contracts de + un into d’un (or de + une into d’une) before a noun:

de + un paragraphe → d’un paragraphe
de + une page → d’une page

This is a grammar rule, not optional style. Written “de un paragraphe” would be incorrect in standard French.

So d’un paragraphe literally means “of one paragraph / of a paragraph.”

What does “d’un paragraphe” add to the meaning? Could we just say “un court résumé”?

Yes, you could say:

Après le cours, Marie écrit un court résumé.

This already means “After class, Marie writes a short summary.”

Adding d’un paragraphe gives extra precision: the summary is specifically one paragraph long. So:

un court résumé = a brief summary (length not specified)
un court résumé d’un paragraphe = a brief summary that is exactly one paragraph

Why is it “un paragraphe” and not “une paragraphe”?

The noun paragraphe (paragraph) is masculine in French:

un paragraphe, le paragraphe, ce paragraphe

So it takes un, not une. This is just grammatical gender; you have to memorize it with each noun.

Is the comma after “Après le cours” required in French?

It’s not strictly required, but it’s very common and recommended.

When a time expression or other adverbial phrase is placed at the beginning of the sentence, French typically uses a comma:

Après le cours, Marie écrit…
Le matin, je bois du café.

You can sometimes see it written without a comma, but using the comma is clearer and more standard.

Could I say “Après la classe, Marie écrit…” instead of “Après le cours”?

You can say Après la classe, but the nuance is different:

un cours = a lesson / class session / course (what the teacher teaches)
une classe = typically the group of students or sometimes the classroom

So:

Après le cours = after the lesson / after class (natural, standard way to say this)
Après la classe might sound more like “after (being with) the class / the group,” and is less common in this time-expression sense in European French.

In everyday French (especially in France), Après le cours is the most idiomatic choice.

How do you pronounce “écrit” and “résumé”?

Approximate pronunciations:

écrit → /e.kʁi/
- é like ay in say (but shorter)
- cri like kree
- final t is silent
résumé → /ʁe.zy.me/
- ré like ray (short)
- zu like the u in French tu (no equivalent in English; not “oo”)
- mé like may
- stress is fairly even in French; don’t heavily stress one syllable like in English.

Also note the accents (é) are obligatory in correct French spelling.

Does “Après le cours, Marie écrit un court résumé d’un paragraphe” describe a habit or a single event?

By default, the present tense in French can express:

a habit:
- Après le cours, Marie écrit un court résumé…
  = After class, Marie (usually / always) writes a short summary.
or a present-time action (narration):
- Like an instruction or schedule: “After the class, Marie writes a short one‑paragraph summary.”

If you wanted to clearly refer to one specific past event, you would normally switch to passé composé:

Après le cours, Marie a écrit un court résumé d’un paragraphe.
= After the class, Marie wrote a short one‑paragraph summary.