Breakdown of Après l'université, Marie suit une formation de six mois en informatique.
Questions & Answers about Après l'université, Marie suit une formation de six mois en informatique.
In French, places and institutions like l’université, l’école, le travail, l’hôpital usually take a definite article (le / la / l’) even when English doesn’t use “the”.
- Après l’université literally: “after the university,” but idiomatically: “after (her time at) university.”
- Saying ✗ Après université without the article is ungrammatical in standard French.
So the article here is normal French grammar, not a reference to one specific university building.
Suit is the 3rd person singular present of the verb suivre.
- Basic meaning of suivre: to follow (a person, a road, etc.).
- In education/training contexts, suivre means to attend / to take / to follow (a course, a program).
Common collocations:
- suivre un cours – to take a class
- suivre une formation – to follow / attend a training program
- suivre des études – to do studies
So Marie suit une formation ≈ “Marie is taking / doing a training program.”
All of these can appear, but they’re not equivalent:
suivre une formation
- The most standard/neutral way to say “to attend / be enrolled in a training program.”
- Emphasizes following the program over time.
faire une formation
- Very common in conversation.
- Slightly more informal; focuses on the fact she is doing this training as an activity in her life.
prendre un cours
- Means “to take a class,” commonly used for individual courses.
- prendre une formation is much less common and often feels influenced by English “to take a training.”
In your sentence, suivre une formation is the most idiomatic, textbook-like choice.
Une formation is a false friend for English formation.
In this context, une formation usually means:
- a training program or course of training, often:
- relatively structured and organized,
- over a defined period (days, weeks, months),
- often professional or vocational.
Comparisons:
- une formation: a training program (e.g. a 6‑month IT training).
- un cours: a single class/course (e.g. a weekly French course).
- des études: broader studies (e.g. university studies).
- l’éducation: “education” in the general sense (moral and/or academic).
- un stage: an internship / work placement.
So une formation de six mois en informatique ≈ “a six‑month training program in computer science / IT.”
French uses the pattern:
[noun] + de + [duration]
to describe the length of that thing as one of its characteristics:
- un film de trois heures – a three‑hour film
- un contrat de deux ans – a two‑year contract
- une formation de six mois – a six‑month training program
Here de does not mean “of” in the possessive sense; it’s a fixed structure.
You could also say:
- Elle suit une formation pendant six mois. – “She is doing training for six months.”
But that shifts the duration into an adverbial phrase about the action, not a built‑in characteristic of the formation itself.
So in une formation de six mois, de is the normal way to build “a six‑month X.”
Yes, both are grammatically correct:
- une formation de six mois en informatique
- une formation en informatique de six mois
They mean essentially the same thing: a six‑month training in computer science.
Nuance is very slight:
- French often places short, simple complements (like de six mois) closer to the noun.
- In practice, both orders are very natural; context and rhythm decide more than any strict rule.
So your original une formation de six mois en informatique is perfectly idiomatic.
en and dans both can translate as “in,” but they’re used differently:
en + field/discipline (no article) = in the field of / in the subject of
- en informatique – in computer science / IT (as a subject area)
- en droit – in law
- en médecine – in medicine
- en physique – in physics
dans l’informatique = in the IT sector / in the computing world (more concrete, like the industry or environment)
- Travailler dans l’informatique – to work in IT (industry).
In your sentence, we are talking about the subject of the training program, so en informatique is the natural choice.
After en + field of study / domain, French normally drops the article:
- en informatique
- en biologie
- en histoire
- en marketing
Saying ✗ en l’informatique is ungrammatical in this meaning.
You do keep the article with other prepositions:
- dans l’informatique – in IT (sector)
- de l’informatique – of computing / some computing
But with en + subject/field, you use the bare noun, without le / la / l’ / les.
French present tense (le présent) is quite flexible. Marie suit here can be understood in a couple of ways:
Biographical / narrative present
- You might be telling Marie’s life story in order:
- Après l’université, Marie suit une formation… puis elle commence à travailler…
- This uses the present to narrate events in sequence, even if they are in someone’s life timeline.
- You might be telling Marie’s life story in order:
Actual present, with “après l’université” giving context
- Implied: After finishing university, (now) Marie is doing a six‑month training…
You could use other tenses depending on what you mean:
- Après l’université, Marie suivra une formation… – “After university, Marie will take a training…” (plan for the future)
- Après l’université, Marie a suivi une formation… – “After university, Marie took a training…” (completed in the past)
The sentence as given with suit is natural if we are describing her current situation or her life path in a narrative style.
Yes, you can also say:
- Marie suit une formation de six mois en informatique après l’université.
Meaning is essentially the same.
The difference is mainly emphasis and style:
Après l’université, Marie suit…
- Puts time first.
- Emphasizes the life stage: “As for what happens after university: Marie does a six‑month IT training.”
Marie suit… après l’université.
- Focuses more on the action first; the time element is added afterwards.
Both word orders are grammatically correct and common.