Learn Hardcore French: Ce roman parle d'un amour simple entre deux voisins. - This novel is about a simple love between two neighbors.

parler de quelque chose = to talk about something
- Ils parlent d’amour. = They are talking about love.
With books/films:
- Ce roman parle d’un amour simple. = This novel is about a simple love.

So Ce roman parle d’un amour simple entre deux voisins is the natural way to say “This novel is about a simple love between two neighbors.”

Compare:

parler à quelqu’un = to speak to someone
parler de quelque chose = to speak/talk about something

You cannot say Ce roman parle sur… here; parler sur is not used that way in French.

Why is it d’un amour and not de un amour?

De un contracts to d’un in French.

Rules:

de + un → d’un
de + une → d’une

This happens because un/une begins with a vowel sound, and French avoids having two vowel sounds clash; de becomes d’ before a vowel or a mute h.

So:

parle de un amour → incorrect / not used
parle d’un amour → correct
Similarly: parle d’une histoire (from de une histoire)

Why do we say un amour with an article? In English we would just say “love,” not “a love.”

French and English don’t treat the noun amour / “love” in exactly the same way.

In English, love is often uncountable:

This novel is about love.

In French, amour can be:

general/abstract (no article):
- L’amour est compliqué. = Love is complicated.
specific/countable (with an article):
- un amour = a specific love / a particular love
- un grand amour = a great love

In your sentence:

d’un amour simple = about one particular, specific love story, and that love is described as “simple.”

If you said just Ce roman parle d’amour, it would be more general: “This novel is about love (in general),” not one particular love story.

Why is the adjective simple placed after amour, not before it?

Most French adjectives normally go after the noun.
Only certain common groups (often summarized as BANGS: Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, Size) usually go before the noun.

Examples that typically go before:

un beau roman (a beautiful novel)
un vieux voisin (an old neighbor)
deux grands livres (two big books)

But simple is not one of those “always-before” adjectives in its basic descriptive sense, so it usually follows the noun:

un amour simple = a simple (not complicated) love
une histoire intéressante = an interesting story

So:

d’un amour simple is the standard neutral order: noun (amour) + adjective (simple).

Could we say d’un simple amour instead of d’un amour simple? Would the meaning change?

Yes, you can say d’un simple amour, but the nuance changes.

un amour simple
Focus: the quality of the love.
→ a love that is straightforward, not complicated, not dramatic.
un simple amour
Focus: it’s nothing more than a love; “mere” love.
→ a mere love, just a love (and not, say, a passion, a tragedy, etc.)

So:

Ce roman parle d’un amour simple
= The novel is about a love that is easy, uncomplicated.
Ce roman parle d’un simple amour
= The novel is about nothing more than a love; it can sound like you’re slightly minimizing it.

Both are grammatically correct; the version with un amour simple is more neutral and common for describing the nature of the relationship.

Why is entre used here? What’s the difference between entre, avec, and parmi?

Entre means between and is used when you’re talking about a relationship or position involving two (or a small, specific number of) people or things.

entre deux voisins = between two neighbors

Comparisons:

avec = with
- un amour avec deux voisins = a love with two neighbors (odd / unclear)
  It sounds like the love is “accompanied by” neighbors, not that it’s between them.
parmi = among
- parmi ses voisins = among his/her neighbors (in the middle of a group)

In a relationship between two specific people, French uses entre:

un conflit entre deux voisins = a conflict between two neighbors
un amour entre deux voisins = a love between two neighbors

That’s why the sentence has entre deux voisins.

Why is it deux voisins and not deux voisin? And how do voisin and voisine work?

In French, nouns and adjectives must agree in number (singular/plural) and gender (masculine/feminine).

Singular:
- un voisin = a (male or unspecified) neighbor
- une voisine = a (female) neighbor
Plural:
- des voisins = neighbors (all male or mixed group)
- des voisines = neighbors (all female)

Since we have deux (two), the noun must be plural:

deux voisins = two neighbors

Masculine plural (voisins) is the default when:

you don’t know the genders
or it’s a mixed group

If you specifically wanted to say “two female neighbors,” you’d say:

deux voisines

Why is it Ce roman and not Cet roman or Cette roman?

The form of “this/that” in French changes with gender and the first sound of the following noun:

ce = masculine singular, before a consonant
- ce roman (masc., starts with r)
cet = masculine singular, before a vowel or mute h
- cet homme, cet arbre
cette = feminine singular
- cette histoire, cette voisine
ces = plural (both genders)
- ces romans, ces voisines

Since roman is masculine, singular, and starts with a consonant (r), you must use ce roman.

Could we also say Ce roman traite d’un amour simple entre deux voisins? What is the difference between parle de and traite de here?

Yes, Ce roman traite d’un amour simple entre deux voisins is correct.

Nuance:

parler de is very common and a bit more everyday.
- Ce roman parle d’un amour simple…
traiter de is slightly more formal or “literary,” and can suggest the book deals with or treats the theme of:
- Ce roman traite d’un amour simple…

In practice, both are perfectly acceptable for this sentence.
For casual speech, parle de is more frequent; in reviews, essays, or more formal writing, traite de is also very natural.

Is the phrase d’un amour simple entre deux voisins describing the love or the neighbors? Could we move entre deux voisins earlier in the sentence?

In d’un amour simple entre deux voisins, the structure is:

d’ (of)
un amour simple (a simple love)
entre deux voisins (between two neighbors)

So:

The main noun is amour.
simple describes the amour.
entre deux voisins tells you who this love is between.

If you tried to move things around like:

Ce roman parle entre deux voisins d’un amour simple

it would sound wrong or confusing. It could even sound like the roman itself is “between two neighbors,” which is not the intended meaning.

The natural word order is:

parler de + [thing] + entre + [people]
→ parle d’un amour simple entre deux voisins

So you should keep entre deux voisins directly linked to amour, as in the original sentence.