Learn Hardcore French: Je parle doucement comme Marie.

On its own, parler doucement most often suggests speaking in a soft, gentle way, often including both low volume and a calm, unhurried manner.

If you really want to insist on slowly (for clarity of pronunciation, for learners, etc.), French speakers often use lentement:

Je parle lentement. – I speak slowly.

If you want to insist on quietly / in a low voice, you can also say:

Je parle à voix basse. – I speak in a low voice.
Je parle tout bas. – I speak very quietly.

Is doucement an adverb or an adjective in this sentence?

Here, doucement is an adverb. It describes how you speak (the manner of speaking), not a quality of a person or a thing.

Je parle doucement. – I speak softly. (how I speak)

As an adjective, the base word is doux (masculine) / douce (feminine):

Un bruit doux. – A soft noise.
Une voix douce. – A soft voice.

You cannot say Je suis doucement to mean I am gentle/soft. You must use the adjective:

Je suis doux. (speaker is male)
Je suis douce. (speaker is female)

So: doucement = adverb, doux/douce = adjective.

How is doucement formed from doux / douce? The spelling looks irregular.

Most French adverbs are formed by adding -ment to the feminine form of the adjective:

lent → lente → lentement
calme → calme → calmement

Here:

Adjective (masc.): doux
Adjective (fem.): douce
Adverb: doucement

So doucement is formed from the feminine form douce + -ment, but because doux / douce already change spelling, the adverb looks a bit irregular to an English speaker.

Why is doucement after the verb? Could I say Je doucement parle?

In French, most manner adverbs (how you do something) come after the verb in simple tenses:

Je parle doucement. – I speak softly.
Il marche vite. – He walks quickly.
Nous travaillons sérieusement. – We work seriously.

So Je doucement parle is incorrect in standard French.

With compound tenses (like j’ai parlé), adverb placement is a bit more flexible, but you still would not say Je doucement ai parlé. You’d normally say:

J’ai parlé doucement. – I spoke softly.

What does comme mean in this sentence? Is it “like” or “as”?

In Je parle doucement comme Marie, comme means like / the way (that).

The idea is:

Je parle doucement comme Marie (parle).
→ I speak softly like Marie does.

So here comme introduces a comparison of manner:

comme Marie = like Marie, in the same way as Marie.

You could also make it more explicit:

Je parle doucement comme Marie parle.
Je parle doucement comme Marie le fait.

Both are equivalent to: I speak softly like Marie speaks / like Marie does.

What’s the difference between comme here and comme si?

comme on its own means like / as / the way.
- Je parle doucement comme Marie.
  → I speak softly like Marie (does).
comme si means as if / as though and usually introduces something hypothetical or contrary to reality:
- Il parle comme si elle n’existait pas.
  → He speaks as if she didn’t exist.

In your sentence, comme si would not be natural. You want a straightforward comparison (like Marie), so you use just comme.

Can I say Je parle aussi doucement que Marie instead of Je parle doucement comme Marie? Is there a difference?

Both are correct, but they don’t say exactly the same thing:

Je parle doucement comme Marie.
→ I speak softly like Marie (does).
This focuses on similarity of manner: your way of speaking is like hers.
Je parle aussi doucement que Marie.
→ I speak as softly as Marie (does).
This focuses on degree/comparison of intensity: your speech is equally soft, not more, not less.

So:

comme Marie = in the same kind of way.
aussi doucement que Marie = to the same degree of softness.

Why is there no article before Marie? Why not comme la Marie?

French first names normally do not take an article:

Marie, Paul, Sophie, Thomas – used without le / la.

With comme, you just put the name directly:

comme Marie – like Marie
comme Paul – like Paul

You would only use an article with a first name in some very marked, often negative or ironic, contexts:

La Marie, elle exagère. – That Marie, she’s overdoing it. (very colloquial, a bit dismissive)

In your neutral sentence, comme Marie is the correct form.

Does doucement agree with Marie in gender or number?

No. As an adverb, doucement is invariable: it never changes form for gender or number.

Whether you say:

Je parle doucement comme Marie.
Je parle doucement comme Paul.
Nous parlons doucement.

doucement always stays the same.

Only adjectives agree with the noun or pronoun. Since doucement describes how you speak (the action), not who you are, it doesn’t agree with Marie or je.

Could I say Je parle à Marie doucement instead? What would be the difference?

Yes, you can say Je parle doucement à Marie, but the meaning changes:

Je parle doucement comme Marie.
→ I speak softly like Marie does. (comparison with Marie)
Je parle doucement à Marie.
→ I speak softly to Marie. (Marie is the person you’re speaking to)

So:

comme Marie = like Marie (comparison)
à Marie = to Marie (indirect object)

Can the subject pronoun je be dropped, like in Spanish or Italian?

No. In French, the subject pronoun is normally required. You almost always need je, tu, il/elle, nous, vous, ils/elles in front of the verb.

So:

Je parle doucement comme Marie. – correct
Parle doucement comme Marie. – sounds like an imperative (a command: “Speak softly like Marie”), not a normal statement.

Unlike Spanish or Italian, French verb endings are often not clear enough on their own to show who the subject is, so the pronoun is needed.

How do you pronounce Je parle doucement comme Marie?

Approximate pronunciation with English-like hints:

Je – like “zhuh” (soft zh as in measure
- a weak vowel)
parle – roughly “parl”; the e is almost silent, r is in the throat
doucement – roughly “doos-ma(n)”
- douce: “doos” (final e silent)
- -ment: “mahn” with a nasal vowel; the t is silent
comme – “kum” (short u, like “come” but more closed)
Marie – “ma-ree”

Put together:

Je parle doucement comme Marie ≈ zhuh parl doos-ma(n) kum ma-ree

Key points:

Final -ent in doucement is silent (no “douce-ment” like in English).
The r in parle and Marie is the French throaty r, not the English one.
Je has a very weak vowel; don’t stress it strongly like “JEH”.

Is there any nuance difference between parler doucement and parler lentement or parler bas?

Yes, the nuance is slightly different:

parler doucement
→ to speak softly/gently; often implies soft voice and possibly calm or slow speech.
parler lentement
→ to speak slowly (speed), for example to help someone understand you.
parler bas
→ to speak in a low voice (volume), often so as not to disturb others or not to be overheard.
- Ne parle pas si bas. – Don’t speak so quietly.
parler fort
→ to speak loudly.

In your sentence, Je parle doucement comme Marie, the focus is on a gentle, soft way of speaking, not strictly on speed.