Learn Hardcore French: En janvier, les séances du mercredi sont souvent plus calmes. - In January, the Wednesday sessions are often calmer.

In French, names of months and days of the week are not capitalized unless they start a sentence or are part of a title. So you write en janvier, en février, le mercredi, etc.

For dates and months, French uses en + [month] to mean in [month]:

en janvier = in January
en été = in summer
en 2025 = in 2025

You would not say à janvier or au janvier; those are incorrect for months. The normal pattern is en + month (except au printemps for in spring).

What exactly does les séances du mercredi mean? Is it “the Wednesday sessions” or “the sessions on Wednesdays,” and what does du do here?

Les séances du mercredi literally means “the sessions of Wednesday”, but idiomatically it’s “the Wednesday sessions” or “the sessions on Wednesdays”.

séances = sessions (could be classes, showings, therapy sessions, etc.)
du = de + le (of the)
mercredi = Wednesday

So les séances du mercredi = the sessions that take place on Wednesdays (the Wednesday sessions). The du links séances to mercredi to specify which séances we’re talking about: the Wednesday ones as a category.

Why is it du mercredi and not de mercredi or des mercredis?

Du is the contracted form of de + le (of the). In this phrase, mercredi is treated like “the Wednesday (day)” in general:

les séances du mercredi ≈ the Wednesday sessions (the ones that fall on Wednesday).

If you said:

les séances de mercredi – this would usually sound like the sessions of Wednesday (this particular Wednesday), more specific to a given date.
les séances des mercredis – grammatically possible, but sounds strange and heavy in everyday French; you almost never need the plural here.

For a regular, recurring idea, du mercredi is the natural, idiomatic choice.

Could you also say les séances le mercredi? What’s the difference from les séances du mercredi?

Both are possible, but they have a slightly different focus:

Les séances le mercredi sont souvent plus calmes.
Emphasis: when they take place (on Wednesdays in general).
Les séances du mercredi sont souvent plus calmes.
Emphasis: this type or category of session (the “Wednesday” sessions, as opposed to sessions on other days).

In many contexts, they would both be understood the same way, but du mercredi feels more like a label or category name: the Wednesday sessions.

Why is souvent placed after sont? Could we move it somewhere else?

In French, adverbs of frequency like souvent (often) typically come after the conjugated verb:

elles sont souvent en retard – they are often late
il vient souvent ici – he often comes here

So sont souvent is the standard word order.

You can move souvent for emphasis or style, but it sounds marked or more literary:

Souvent, les séances du mercredi sont plus calmes. (Often, …) – fronted for emphasis.
Putting souvent at the very end (… sont plus calmes souvent) would usually sound awkward or wrong in standard French.

Why is it plus calmes and not plus calme?

In French, adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

les séances is feminine plural.
The base adjective is calme (calm/quiet).
Feminine plural form: calmes (add ‑s).

So you get les séances … sont calmes (are calm), and in the comparative:
les séances … sont plus calmes (are calmer / are more calm).

Because séances is plural, the adjective must be plural: calmes, not calme.

Does plus here mean “more” or “most”? How do I know it’s comparative and not superlative?

Here plus is comparative: more calm / calmer.

Comparative (“more”): plus + adjective
- plus calme – more calm / calmer
Superlative (“the most”): le/la/les plus + adjective
- les plus calmes – the calmest / the most calm

In the sentence … sont souvent plus calmes, there is no le / la / les, so it can only be comparative: “are often calmer (than at other times).”

How do you pronounce plus in plus calmes? Do you say the final s?

In plus calmes, plus is the comparative “more” before an adjective. In that case, the final s is usually silent:

plus calmes → pronounced roughly [ply kalm] (no audible s).

For the comparative plus + adjective/adverb in a positive sentence, the standard rule is:

final s = silent, unless there’s a liaison before a vowel (plus intéressant → [plyz‿ɛ̃teʁesɑ̃]).

So here, before calmes (starting with a consonant), you don’t pronounce the s.

Why is calmes at the end of the sentence? Could we put the adjective somewhere else?

The structure here is:

les séances du mercredi (subject)
sont (verb être)
souvent plus calmes (adverb + adjective)

With être, the adjective normally comes after the verb, just like English are calm:

Les séances sont calmes. – The sessions are calm.
Les séances sont plus calmes. – The sessions are calmer.

You generally cannot move calmes in front of sont here; Les séances calmes sont… would mean something different (the calm sessions are…), not are calm.

Why is there a comma after En janvier? Is it required?

En janvier is an introductory time phrase. In French, it is common to put a comma after such an opener:

En janvier, …
Le soir, …

The comma is not absolutely obligatory in a short sentence, but it is very natural and standard in writing. It visually separates the time-setting element (En janvier) from the main clause (les séances du mercredi sont souvent plus calmes).