Learn Hardcore French: Je parle avec eux dans le jardin.

French has different types of pronouns. After most prepositions (like avec, pour, sans), you must use stressed pronouns (also called disjunctive/tonic pronouns), not subject pronouns.

Subject pronouns: je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles
Stressed pronouns: moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles

Since avec is a preposition, you need a stressed pronoun:

avec eux = with them (masculine / mixed group)
❌ avec ils is grammatically wrong.

So eux is correct here because it is the stressed form of ils after a preposition.

What’s the difference between Je parle avec eux and Je leur parle?

They are close in meaning but not identical:

Je parle avec eux.
Literally: I speak with them.
Focus: the idea of having a conversation with them, more like “together, interacting”.
Je leur parle.
Literally: I speak to them.
Focus: you are the one speaking to them; it doesn’t highlight a back-and-forth conversation as much.

Grammar point:

avec + stressed pronoun → avec eux
parler à + person → parler à eux (theoretically)
but in real French you replace à eux with the indirect object pronoun leur in front of the verb:
- Je parle à eux → ❌ (sounds wrong)
- Je leur parle → ✅

So:

Conversation “with them”: Je parle avec eux.
Emphasis on “talking to them”: Je leur parle.

Why do we need to say Je? Can we drop the subject pronoun like in Spanish?

In French, you almost never drop the subject pronoun. French is not a “pro‑drop” language like Spanish or Italian.

Spanish: Hablo con ellos en el jardín. (no yo needed)
French: Je parle avec eux dans le jardin. (you must say Je)

Only in a few very informal, spoken cases can the subject be “swallowed” or heavily reduced (like Ch’sais pas for Je ne sais pas), but in correct French, you always write and normally pronounce the subject pronoun:

✅ Je parle avec eux.
❌ Parle avec eux. (wrong, unless it’s an imperative: Talk with them! → Parle avec eux !)

Why is the verb parle and not parles or parlent?

Parler is a regular -er verb. In the present tense:

je parle
tu parles
il / elle / on parle
nous parlons
vous parlez
ils / elles parlent

Because the subject is je, you use parle (no final s, no -nt).

So:

Je parle = I speak / I am speaking
Tu parles = You speak
Ils parlent = They speak

Note that je parle, il parle, and ils parlent are pronounced almost the same; the difference is only in spelling and the subject pronoun.

Can Je parle mean both “I speak” and “I am speaking” in English?

Yes.

French generally uses the simple present where English uses either:

I speak (habitual)
I am speaking (right now)

The French Je parle can mean:

“I speak (French with them in the garden every Sunday).”
“I am speaking (with them in the garden right now).”

Context or adverbs like en ce moment, souvent, toujours, etc., clarify the nuance if needed.

Can I change the word order of avec eux and dans le jardin?

Yes, both parts are movable. All of these are possible:

Je parle avec eux dans le jardin.
Neutral: I’m saying who you’re with, then where.
Je parle dans le jardin avec eux.
Slightly more focus on the place first (I speak in the garden), then you add with them.
Dans le jardin, je parle avec eux.
Emphasis on the location: In the garden, I speak with them.
Avec eux, je parle dans le jardin.
Emphasis on the people: With them, I speak in the garden.

All are grammatically correct. The default, most neutral order is usually:

Subject + verb + complements of manner / company + place
Je parle avec eux dans le jardin.

Why is it dans le jardin and not en le jardin?

Two points:

The preposition
To say “in the garden” (a physical, enclosed or defined space), French normally uses dans:
- dans le jardin = in the garden
- dans la maison = in the house
- dans la voiture = in the car
En is used with certain countries, months, means of transport, and some abstract uses:
- en France, en 2025, en voiture, en été
For a concrete place like a garden, dans is the natural choice.
Contraction issue
Even if en were appropriate here (it’s not), en le is impossible. French doesn’t allow:
- ❌ en le jardin
It would have to contract (like au, du), but en + le simply doesn’t exist as a contraction in French.

So, idiomatic French is:

✅ dans le jardin
❌ en le jardin

What’s the difference between dans le jardin and au jardin?

Both can be translated as “in the garden”, but there are nuances:

dans le jardin
Very common, neutral: physically inside the garden space.
→ Used everywhere and in all registers.
au jardin
Literally “at the garden”.
- Sometimes sounds a bit more literary or old-fashioned, depending on context.
- In some regions or fixed expressions, people say au jardin naturally.
- It often suggests being there in a more general way, rather than the idea of being inside a physical enclosure.

For learners, dans le jardin is the safest and most standard choice for “in the garden.”

How would I say “with him / with her / with us / with you / with them (feminine)” instead of avec eux?

Use avec + stressed pronoun. Here’s the full set:

avec moi = with me
avec toi = with you (singular, informal)
avec lui = with him
avec elle = with her
avec nous = with us
avec vous = with you (singular formal or plural)
avec eux = with them (all male or mixed group)
avec elles = with them (all female group)

So you could say:

Je parle avec lui dans le jardin. – I speak with him in the garden.
Je parle avec elle dans le jardin. – I speak with her in the garden.
Je parle avec nous (rare; you usually say Nous parlons entre nous).
Je parle avec vous dans le jardin. – I speak with you in the garden.
Je parle avec elles dans le jardin. – I speak with them (all women) in the garden.

When do I use eux and when do I use elles?

Both eux and elles are stressed pronouns for “them”:

eux → masculine plural or mixed group (at least one male)
elles → exclusively feminine plural (all female group)

So:

Group of men → avec eux
Mixed group of men + women → avec eux
Group of only women → avec elles

Examples:

Je parle avec eux dans le jardin.
→ them = men or mixed group.
Je parle avec elles dans le jardin.
→ them = only women.

How do you pronounce the sentence Je parle avec eux dans le jardin?

Approximate IPA and tips:

Je → /ʒə/ or /ʒ/ (very short “juh”)
parle → /paʁl/
- parl- like “parl” in “Parl-iaments”; final e is silent.
avec → /avɛk/
eux → /ø/ (a single vowel, like a long, rounded “eu”)

Liaison:
Between avec and eux, there is usually a liaison:

avec eux → /avɛk‿ø/
You clearly pronounce the k at the end of avec linking into eux.

dans → /dɑ̃/ (nasal sound, like “dahn”)
le → /lə/
jardin → /ʒaʁdɛ̃/ (roughly “zhar-dahn” with nasal in at the end)

Full sentence (standard careful pronunciation):

Je parle avec eux dans le jardin.
/ʒə paʁl avɛk‿ø dɑ̃ lə ʒaʁdɛ̃/

Could I say Je parle à eux dans le jardin?

It’s grammatically possible in theory, but it sounds unnatural and is almost never used in real French.

If you use parler à quelqu’un (“to talk to someone”), you normally replace à + eux with the indirect object pronoun leur, and put it before the verb:

❌ Je parle à eux dans le jardin. (feels wrong / very clumsy)
✅ Je leur parle dans le jardin. – I speak to them in the garden.

If you really want to keep eux after the verb, you switch to avec:

✅ Je parle avec eux dans le jardin. – I speak with them in the garden.