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Marie doit se concentrer pendant le cours de français.

Marie doit se concentrer pendant le cours de français.
Marie must concentrate during the French class.
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Questions & Answers about Marie doit se concentrer pendant le cours de français.

What exactly does doit mean in this sentence? Is it closer to must, has to, or should?

Doit is the 3rd person singular present of devoir.

In this sentence, Marie doit se concentrer most naturally means:

  • Marie has to concentrate
    or
  • Marie must concentrate

So the idea is a real obligation or necessity.

If you wanted a softer idea like Marie should concentrate, French normally uses the conditional:

  • Marie devrait se concentrer. = Marie should concentrate.
How is the verb devoir conjugated in the present tense?

Here is devoir in the present indicative (used for everyday present-time obligations):

  • je dois – I must / I have to
  • tu dois – you must / you have to (informal singular)
  • il / elle / on doit – he / she / one must / has to
  • nous devons – we must / we have to
  • vous devez – you must / you have to (formal or plural)
  • ils / elles doivent – they must / they have to

In your sentence:

  • Marie doit se concentrer
    → doit is the il/elle form, because Marie is like elle.
Why do we say se concentrer and not just concentrer?

In French, the verb se concentrer is reflexive. It literally means “to concentrate oneself,” but in natural English we just say to concentrate.

  • se concentrer = to concentrate, to focus
  • concentrer (without se) = to concentrate something (e.g. to concentrate a solution, to make something more dense or intense). This is rare in everyday speech.

So:

  • Marie doit se concentrer. = Marie must concentrate.
  • Le soleil concentre la chaleur. = The sun concentrates the heat.

When you mean “to focus / to pay attention,” you almost always need the reflexive form se concentrer.

What does the pronoun se refer to, and how does it change with different subjects?

The se in se concentrer is a reflexive pronoun that refers back to the subject of the sentence.

With different subjects, the reflexive pronoun changes:

  • je dois me concentrer – I must concentrate
  • tu dois te concentrer – you must concentrate (informal)
  • il / elle doit se concentrer – he / she must concentrate
  • nous devons nous concentrer – we must concentrate
  • vous devez vous concentrer – you must concentrate (formal or plural)
  • ils / elles doivent se concentrer – they must concentrate

So in Marie doit se concentrer, se refers to Marie (she must concentrate herself).

Why is it Marie doit se concentrer, but Marie se concentre when there is only one verb?

This is about where reflexive pronouns go.

  1. When there is only one verb and it is conjugated
    The reflexive pronoun goes before the conjugated verb:

    • Marie se concentre. = Marie concentrates / is concentrating.

  2. When there is a conjugated verb followed by an infinitive
    (like doit + se concentrer), the reflexive pronoun is placed in front of the infinitive, not in front of the conjugated verb:

    • Marie doit se concentrer.
    • Elle va se concentrer. = She is going to concentrate.
    • Elle veut se concentrer. = She wants to concentrate.

So:

  • one verb → Marie se concentre
  • two verbs (modal/auxiliary + infinitive) → Marie doit se concentrer
What does pendant mean here, and can I replace it with other prepositions like durant, en, or pour?

In this sentence, pendant means during:

  • pendant le cours de français = during French class

Other options:

  • durant: very similar to pendant, a bit more formal or literary.

    • Marie doit se concentrer durant le cours de français. (correct, slightly formal)

  • en: not natural here with cours.

    • ✗ Marie doit se concentrer en le cours de français. (incorrect)
      You might say en cours in a more general sense:
    • Elle doit se concentrer en cours. = She must concentrate in class.

  • pour: used more for “for X amount of time” in the future/intended duration, not “during a specific event” in this way.

    • ✗ Marie doit se concentrer pour le cours de français.
      This sounds more like “for the sake of the French class / for French class” rather than “while it is happening”.

So in your exact sentence, pendant (or durant) is the natural choice for during.

Why do we say pendant le cours de français and not just pendant cours de français (without le)?

In French, a noun almost always needs an article or a determiner (le, la, les, un, une, ce, etc.).

  • le cours de français = the French class
  • You cannot just say ✗ pendant cours de français; that sounds incomplete.

So you need:

  • pendant le cours de français (during the French class)
    or, if context allows:
  • pendant un cours de français (during a French class – any one class)

Dropping the article, like English sometimes does (e.g. “in class”), is generally not possible in French with regular nouns.

What is the difference between cours, classe, and leçon?

All three can be translated as something like “class/lesson,” but they are used differently:

  • un cours

    • A course or a specific class/lesson (the teaching itself).
    • Very common for school/university subjects.
    • le cours de français = the French class / French lesson / French course

  • une classe

    • The group of students, or sometimes the classroom.
    • Ma classe est bruyante. = My class (group of students) is noisy.
    • La classe de 5e B. = Class 5B.

  • une leçon

    • A lesson (one unit of teaching, or a “moral lesson”).
    • Often used in textbooks: la leçon 3 = lesson 3.

In your sentence, cours is the natural word:

  • pendant le cours de français = during French class.
Why is français written with a lower-case f here?

In French:

  • Language names (as common nouns) are written with a lower-case first letter:

    • le français, l’anglais, l’espagnol, l’allemand, etc.

  • Nationality adjectives are also lower-case:

    • un élève français = a French student

  • Nationality nouns referring to people are capitalized:

    • un Français = a Frenchman
    • une Française = a French woman

In le cours de français, français is an adjective describing the course (a French course), so it is lower-case.

Can I move pendant le cours de français to another position in the sentence?

Yes. French word order is quite flexible for adverbial phrases like this. All of these are correct, with slightly different emphasis:

  1. Marie doit se concentrer pendant le cours de français.
    – Neutral; the most typical order.

  2. Pendant le cours de français, Marie doit se concentrer.
    – Emphasizes the time frame “during French class.”

  3. Marie, pendant le cours de français, doit se concentrer.
    – More marked / written style, highlighting the time expression in the middle.

All still mean Marie must / has to concentrate during French class.

How would you say Marie should concentrate during French class instead of Marie has to concentrate?

To express should (a weaker obligation / recommendation), French commonly uses the conditional of devoir:

  • Marie devrait se concentrer pendant le cours de français.
    → Marie should concentrate during French class.

Compare:

  • Marie doit se concentrer… = She must / has to (stronger obligation).
  • Marie devrait se concentrer… = She should (advice, recommendation).