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Learn Hardcore French: Nous parlons souvent de ce livre. - We often talk about this book.

Hardcore French
/Lesson 36
/Nous parlons souvent de ce livre.

Nous parlons souvent de ce livre.

Nous parlons souvent de ce livre.

We often talk about this book.

Breakdown of Nous parlons souvent de ce livre.

Questions & Answers about Nous parlons souvent de ce livre.

Why is it nous parlons and not something like nous parle?

Because the verb parler must agree with its subject nous (we).

In the present tense:

je parle (I speak)
tu parles (you speak, singular/informal)
il/elle/on parle (he/she/one speaks)
nous parlons (we speak)
vous parlez (you speak, plural/formal)
ils/elles parlent (they speak)

With nous, the correct ending is -ons, so you get nous parlons.

Could I say On parle souvent de ce livre instead of Nous parlons souvent de ce livre?

Yes. On parle souvent de ce livre is very common in spoken French.

nous = we (more formal/standard, typical in writing and careful speech)
on = literally “one,” but in everyday French it very often means we

Meaning-wise in conversation:

Nous parlons souvent de ce livre. → neutral, a bit more formal
On parle souvent de ce livre. → very natural, everyday spoken French

Grammatically, on always uses the il/elle form of the verb:

On parle, not on parlons.

Why is it and not ?

to speak, to talk

to (before an infinitive: essayer de…)

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parlons souvent

souvent parlons

In simple tenses, adverbs like souvent usually go after the conjugated verb:

Nous parlons souvent de ce livre.

You can move souvent for emphasis or style, but the grammar changes slightly:

Souvent, nous parlons de ce livre.
→ Also correct; souvent is now at the beginning as an introductory adverb (“Often, we talk about this book.”)

However, Nous souvent parlons de ce livre is not natural French.

Can I put souvent at the end, like Nous parlons de ce livre souvent?

Yes, that is possible and sometimes used, especially in speech:

Nous parlons souvent de ce livre. → neutral, most common
Nous parlons de ce livre souvent. → also correct; can sound slightly more informal or give a bit of emphasis to souvent

Both are grammatically fine. The version in your sentence (after the verb) is the default pattern you should learn first.

Why do we use de in de ce livre to say “about this book”?

In French, the verb parler works differently than in English:

parler de quelque chose = to talk about something
→ Nous parlons souvent de ce livre. = We often talk about this book.
parler à quelqu’un = to talk to someone
→ Je parle à Paul. = I talk to Paul.
parler + langue (no preposition) = to speak a language
→ Je parle français. = I speak French.

So about after talk is usually translated as de after parler.

Why is it ce livre and not cet livre or cette livre?

Because livre is a masculine singular noun starting with a consonant:

Demonstrative adjectives in French:

ce
- masculine singular noun starting with a consonant
  → ce livre (this/that book)
cet
- masculine singular noun starting with a vowel or mute h
  → cet homme, cet arbre
cette
- feminine singular noun
  → cette table
ces
- any plural noun (masculine or feminine)
  → ces livres, ces tables

So the correct form is ce livre.

How would I replace de ce livre with a pronoun?

You would use the pronoun en, which replaces de + noun:

Nous parlons souvent de ce livre.
Nous en parlons souvent. = We often talk about it.

Key points:

en goes before the conjugated verb (parlons).
It keeps the idea “of it / about it” when the original noun had de.

Can I drop the subject pronoun and just say Parlons souvent de ce livre?

Not in standard French for a normal statement.

Unlike Spanish or Italian, French almost always requires an explicit subject pronoun:

Nous parlons souvent de ce livre. ✅
Parlons souvent de ce livre. ❌ (as a statement; sounds wrong)

However:

Parlons de ce livre. can be correct as an imperative (a suggestion):
→ “Let’s talk about this book.”
In that case, it is not the same sentence or meaning as your original.

Does Nous parlons mean “We are talking” or “We talk”?

It can mean both. The French present tense covers:

English present simple: “We talk about this book often.”
English present continuous: “We are talking about this book often.”

Context usually makes the nuance clear. If you need to stress the progressive idea “right now,” you can add en train de:

Nous sommes en train de parler de ce livre.
= We are (right now) in the middle of talking about this book.

How is the sentence pronounced, and are there any silent letters?

Approximate pronunciation (in IPA):
Nous parlons souvent de ce livre → /nu paʁlɔ̃ suvɑ̃ də sə livʁ/

Key points:

nous → /nu/ (final s is silent here)
parlons → /paʁlɔ̃/ (the -ons is pronounced as a nasal vowel /ɔ̃/)
souvent → /suvɑ̃/ (the -ent is silent)
de → /də/
ce → /sə/
livre → /livʁ/ (final e is very light or almost mute; final re is /ʁ/)

There are no obligatory liaisons in this sentence (you do not link nous and parlons, since parlons starts with a consonant).

What changes if I make the sentence negative?

You place ne … pas around the conjugated verb, and souvent stays after the verb:

Nous ne parlons pas souvent de ce livre.
= We don’t talk about this book often.

Structure:

Nous (subject)
ne (first part of negation)
parlons (verb)
pas (second part of negation)
souvent (adverb)
de ce livre (complement)

Is there a difference between parler de ce livre and discuter de ce livre?

Yes, there is a nuance:

parler de ce livre = to talk/speak about this book (neutral, very common)
discuter de ce livre = to discuss this book (often implies a more focused or analytical discussion)

Both can be followed by de:

Nous parlons souvent de ce livre.
Nous discutons souvent de ce livre.

Both are correct; parler de is more general and slightly more frequent in everyday speech.

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