Learn Hardcore French: Nous parlons souvent du thème de l’amitié et du soutien dans notre groupe. - We often talk about the theme of friendship and support in our group.

Because thème is masculine singular, its article is le thème. After parler de, you would theoretically get de le thème, but that must contract to du thème.

So:

Nous parlons du thème… = Nous parlons de le thème… (correctly contracted)

Do we really need the word thème here? Could we just say Nous parlons souvent de l’amitié et du soutien?

You don’t have to use thème; it depends on what you mean.

Nous parlons souvent du thème de l’amitié et du soutien…
Emphasizes that you are talking about the topic/theme of friendship and support (sounds a bit more formal, academic, or structured).
Nous parlons souvent de l’amitié et du soutien…
Means you often talk about friendship and support themselves, without highlighting the idea of “the theme”.

Both are grammatically correct. In everyday conversation, the version without thème is more natural unless you specifically want to stress that it’s a topic/theme (e.g. in a class, workshop, therapy group, book club, etc.).

Why is it de l’amitié but du soutien?

This is about the gender of the nouns and how de + article behaves:

amitié is feminine and starts with a vowel sound.
The definite article is la amitié, which becomes l’amitié (elision). After de, there’s no contraction:
- de + l’ = de l’ → de l’amitié
soutien is masculine singular.
The definite article is le soutien. After de, it contracts:
- de + le = du → du soutien

So you get:

de l’amitié (feminine, vowel, no contraction beyond elision)
du soutien (masculine, contraction of de + le)

Why do we use parler de instead of just parler with a direct object, like we do in English?

In French, parler usually works like this:

parler de quelque chose = to talk about something
- Nous parlons de l’amitié. = We talk about friendship.
parler à quelqu’un = to speak to someone
- Je parle à mon ami. = I speak to my friend.
parler + langue = to speak a language (no de)
- Je parle français. = I speak French.

So for a topic you’re discussing, you almost always need parler de:

Not: Nous parlons l’amitié.
Correct: Nous parlons de l’amitié.

Your sentence follows that pattern: Nous parlons souvent du thème de l’amitié et du soutien…

Why is souvent placed after parlons? Could it go somewhere else?

In French, short adverbs of frequency like souvent usually go right after the conjugated verb:

Nous parlons souvent du thème…

Other positions are possible but change the style or emphasis:

Souvent, nous parlons du thème…
Puts emphasis on often (stylistic, quite natural orally and in writing).
Nous parlons du thème… souvent.
Also possible, but more like adding “often” at the end as an afterthought; less neutral than the original.

The most standard, neutral word order in your sentence is exactly what you see:
Nous parlons souvent du thème…

Why is it dans notre groupe and not en notre groupe?

In modern French, you virtually never say en notre groupe. You’d use:

dans notre groupe = inside / within our group

dans is the normal choice here because a groupe is thought of as a kind of “container” (physical or social) that people can be “in”:

dans notre classe = in our class
dans notre équipe = in our team
dans notre famille = in our family
dans notre groupe = in our group

en is used in many other cases (e.g. en France, en groupe, en famille, en classe), but en notre groupe is not idiomatic.

If you want something a bit more formal, you could also say:

au sein de notre groupe = within our group

How do I know groupe is masculine, and why is it notre for both masculine and feminine nouns?

groupe is grammatically masculine in French: un groupe, le groupe.

For possessive adjectives (my, your, his, our…), French uses different forms depending on number and gender:

mon / ton / son for masculine singular nouns
ma / ta / sa for feminine singular nouns
mes / tes / ses for plural nouns

But for notre / votre / leur, the form does not change with gender:

notre groupe (masc. sing.)
notre famille (fem. sing.)
votre idée (fem. sing.)
votre projet (masc. sing.)

So notre is used for any singular noun, whether masculine or feminine. That’s why you can’t see the gender of groupe from notre; you have to learn groupe as masculine from the dictionary or from context (e.g. un groupe).

Could we say On parle souvent du thème… instead of Nous parlons souvent du thème…?

Yes. In everyday spoken French, on is very commonly used instead of nous to mean “we”:

On parle souvent du thème de l’amitié et du soutien dans notre groupe.

This means the same thing in practice. The difference is:

nous = more formal / written / careful speech
on = more colloquial / very frequent in conversation

In writing (essays, reports, formal emails), nous parlons is usually preferred. In casual speech, you’ll hear on parle much more often.

Why is it written l’amitié with an apostrophe?

This is elision, which is very common in French. The feminine article la becomes l’ in front of a word that starts with a vowel or silent h:

la amitié → l’amitié
la école → l’école
la histoire → l’histoire

So the full underlying form is la amitié, but French doesn’t allow that; it must become l’amitié.

After de, we keep that elided form:

de + l’amitié → de l’amitié
(no further change)

Is it okay to have so many de / du / de l’ in a row? Could we simplify the structure?

Yes, French often chains de-phrases like this, especially with abstract nouns:

Nous parlons souvent du thème de l’amitié et du soutien…

Literally:
parler de + le thème → du thème
le thème de l’amitié et du soutien (a theme of friendship and of support)

This is grammatically normal, but you can definitely simplify while keeping the same basic meaning:

Drop thème:
- Nous parlons souvent de l’amitié et du soutien dans notre groupe.
Drop the articles for a more general feel:
- Nous parlons souvent d’amitié et de soutien dans notre groupe.

That last version (d’amitié et de soutien) sounds very natural and a bit lighter in style, especially in spoken or informal written French.