Learn Hardcore French: Le matin, Marie fait de la méditation, et le soir elle joue au tennis avec ses amis. - In the morning, Marie does meditation, and in the evening she plays tennis with her friends.

Why does the sentence use le matin and le soir instead of something like dans le matin or en le soir to say in the morning / in the evening?

In French, the usual way to talk about habitual times of day is:

le matin = in the morning / in the mornings
le soir = in the evening / in the evenings
l’après-midi = in the afternoon(s)

Here le doesn’t really mean the in a concrete sense; it’s more like a marker for a general, repeated time of day.

Using prepositions like dans or en here would sound wrong:

dans le matin – not idiomatic in this context
en le soir – ungrammatical (also, it would contract to au soir, which is rare and has a different, more literary or specific feel)

So, for routines:

Le matin, je bois un café. = I drink coffee in the morning.
Le soir, elle lit. = She reads in the evening.

What is the difference between le matin and la matinée (and similarly le soir vs la soirée)?

Both pairs refer to the same part of the day, but the nuance is different.

le matin = the morning as a time point or block on the clock
- focus on when something happens
- Le matin, Marie fait de la méditation.
la matinée = the duration of the morning, often “the whole morning”
- focus on how long something lasts
- Marie a travaillé toute la matinée. = She worked all morning.

Similarly:

le soir = in the evening / evenings (time slot)
la soirée = the evening seen as an event or duration
- On a parlé toute la soirée. = We talked all evening.

In your sentence, we’re just situating actions in the daily schedule, so le matin and le soir are the natural choices.

Why is it Marie fait de la méditation and not Marie fait la méditation or Marie fait méditation?

After faire in the sense of “to do” an activity, French usually uses:

faire + du / de la / de l’ / des + noun

This is often used for sports, hobbies, and certain activities:

faire du sport – to do sports
faire de la natation – to go swimming
faire de la méditation – to meditate / to do meditation

So:

Marie fait de la méditation. ✅
Marie fait la méditation. ❌ sounds wrong in this context; it would suggest some very specific, previously mentioned “meditation”
Marie fait méditation. ❌ ungrammatical; French normally needs the article here.

Why de la méditation and not du méditation?

Méditation is a feminine noun in French:

une méditation
la méditation

The partitive article must agree in gender and number with the noun:

du = de + le (masculine singular)
de la (feminine singular)
de l’ (before vowel or mute h)
des (plural)

So:

de la méditation ✅ (feminine)
du méditation ❌ (gender mismatch)

Could you say Marie médite instead of Marie fait de la méditation? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say Marie médite, and it is correct French.

Marie fait de la méditation.
- Very common, neutral, colloquial and standard.
- Emphasizes doing the activity “meditation” (like a hobby/practice).
Marie médite.
- Slightly more literary or direct use of the verb.
- Emphasizes the mental action of meditating itself.

In everyday speech, faire de la méditation is probably more frequent when talking about a routine, as in your sentence.

Why is it joue au tennis and not joue le tennis or joue du tennis?

For sports, the usual pattern is:

jouer à + sport
faire du / de la + sport

So:

jouer au tennis = to play tennis
jouer au foot = to play soccer
faire du tennis = to play/do tennis (talking more generally about practicing the sport)

Breaking it down:

à + le = au, so à le tennis becomes au tennis.

The following are incorrect in standard French:

jouer le tennis ❌
jouer du tennis ❌ (with jouer, du is for musical instruments, not sports)

What’s the general rule for jouer à vs jouer de?

Very important pattern:

jouer à + sport / game
- jouer au tennis, jouer au foot, jouer aux cartes, jouer à un jeu vidéo
jouer de + musical instrument
- jouer du piano, jouer de la guitare, jouer du violon

So:

elle joue au tennis ✅ (sport)
elle joue du piano ✅ (instrument)

Could we also say Marie fait du tennis le soir instead of elle joue au tennis le soir? Would it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Le soir, Marie fait du tennis avec ses amis.

The difference is subtle:

jouer au tennis
- focuses on the act of playing the game (a match, a friendly game, etc.).
faire du tennis
- focuses more on practicing the sport in general (as an activity/hobby), not necessarily in formal “matches”.

Both are idiomatic; context usually makes them interchangeable for everyday use.

Why is there a comma before et in Le matin, Marie fait de la méditation, et le soir elle joue au tennis? Is that normal in French?

Both of these are acceptable:

Le matin, Marie fait de la méditation et le soir elle joue au tennis.
Le matin, Marie fait de la méditation, et le soir elle joue au tennis.

French is generally a bit less strict than English about putting a comma before et. The comma here:

separates two fairly long parts: Le matin, Marie fait de la méditation and le soir elle joue au tennis
can slightly emphasize the contrast morning vs evening.

In many styles, you’d probably see it without the comma before et, but having it is not wrong.

Why is the subject elle repeated in the second part (… et le soir elle joue au tennis …)? Could you say … et le soir joue au tennis … instead?

In standard French, you need an explicit subject for each conjugated verb:

Le matin, Marie fait de la méditation, et le soir elle joue au tennis. ✅
Le matin, Marie fait de la méditation, et le soir joue au tennis. ❌

French does not normally drop subject pronouns the way Spanish or Italian can. Each finite verb form needs a subject pronoun (or a noun) clearly stated.

The repetition also avoids ambiguity and keeps the sentence clear, especially after inserting le soir between et and joue.

Why is it ses amis and not les amis or des amis?

ses amis = her friends (possessive)
les amis = the friends (a specific group already known in the context)
des amis = (some) friends, friends in general, not clearly linked to a specific person

In your sentence, we want to say her friends, so French uses the possessive adjective:

avec ses amis = with her friends.

If you said:

avec des amis, it would mean “with some friends” (not clearly specified whose).
avec les amis, it would mean “with the friends” (some previously identified group).

Why is it ses amis and not sa amis, since Marie is feminine?

The possessive adjective in French agrees with the thing possessed, not with the possessor.

amis is plural (and masculine here), so you use:
- ses for plural (regardless of gender of the owner)

Examples:

Marie aime son frère. (frère = masc. sing.)
Marie aime sa sœur. (sœur = fem. sing.)
Marie aime ses amis. (amis = plural)

So:

ses amis ✅
sa amis ❌ (mismatch: sa is singular, amis is plural)

Why is the present tense (fait, joue) used here to describe a routine? Could we use another tense?

In French, the présent de l’indicatif can describe:

actions happening right now
general truths
habits and routines (as in your sentence)

So:

Le matin, Marie fait de la méditation, et le soir elle joue au tennis.
= In the morning, Marie meditates / does meditation, and in the evening she plays tennis (as a regular habit).

This matches the English simple present used for habits.

You could use other tenses to change the meaning:

Le matin, Marie faisait de la méditation… (imparfait) = She used to do meditation in the morning.
Le matin, Marie a fait de la méditation… (passé composé) = She did meditation this morning (specific event).

But for a regular routine, the present is the normal choice.

How is the sentence pronounced, especially the tricky parts like fait de la and joue au?

Key points for pronunciation:

Le matin → /lə ma.tɛ̃/
- in in matin is a nasal vowel /ɛ̃/.
Marie → /ma.ʁi/
- French r is uvular (in the throat), not like English r.
fait → /fɛ/
- Final -t is silent here.
de la → /də la/
- Very smooth, almost like one unit: fait de la → /fɛ də la/.
méditation → /me.di.ta.sjɔ̃/
- Final -on is nasal /ɔ̃/ and the ti before a vowel often becomes /sj/ (like -syõ).
le soir → /lə swaʁ/
elle joue → /ɛl ʒu/
- joue rhymes with “zoo”.
au tennis → /o tɛ.nis/
- au = /o/, one sound (like the “o” in “go”, but purer).
avec ses amis → /a.vɛk sez a.mi/
- ses = /se/, amis = /a.mi/, with no liaison required between ses and amis here (though in very careful speech some might make one).