Learn Hardcore French: Pendant le cours, je parle français avec Marie. - During the class, I speak French with Marie.

pendant = during, for the duration of
- Pendant le cours = during the class
durant is almost a synonym of pendant, but it sounds a bit more formal or literary.
- You could say Durant le cours, je parle français avec Marie, and it would still be correct, just a little more formal in tone.
en cours usually appears in expressions like:
- en cours de maths – in math class
- en cours – (short for en cours de classe), used colloquially:
  - En cours, je m’ennuie. – In class, I get bored.

You wouldn’t normally say en cours je parle français avec Marie in careful, standard style, though you might hear something similar in informal speech. Pendant le cours is the clearest and most standard version here.

Why is there a le before cours? Why not just pendant cours?

In French, you usually need an article (le, la, les, un, une, etc.) in front of a noun. Cours is a noun meaning lesson / class, so you say:

le cours – the class / this class (in general, or a specific one in context)

So:

Pendant le cours = During the class (the lesson that is taking place)

You cannot normally say pendant cours; that sounds incomplete.

Compare:

Pendant le cours, je suis attentif. – During class, I pay attention.
En cours, je suis attentif. – In class, I pay attention. (en cours is a set phrase, no article)

So le is needed here because pendant is used with a regular noun phrase, and regular nouns take an article.

Can I move pendant le cours to the end and say: Je parle français avec Marie pendant le cours?

Yes. Both are correct:

Pendant le cours, je parle français avec Marie.
Je parle français avec Marie pendant le cours.

French is fairly flexible with adverbial phrases of time. Common positions:

At the beginning (often a bit more formal or emphatic):
- Pendant le cours, je parle français avec Marie.
At the end (very common and neutral):
- Je parle français avec Marie pendant le cours.

The meaning is the same; moving pendant le cours mainly changes rhythm and emphasis, not content.

Why is it je parle français and not je parle le français?

With the verb parler followed directly by a language, standard modern French normally omits the article:

Je parle français. – I speak French.
Elle parle anglais et espagnol. – She speaks English and Spanish.

You would only use an article in other structures, for example:

J’aime le français. – I like French (the language as a subject).
J’apprends le français. – I’m learning French.
Le français de Marie est excellent. – Marie’s French is excellent.

So:

parler français (no article) = to speak French
aimer / apprendre / enseigner le français (with le) = to like / learn / teach French

Note: in some regions or informal varieties of French you may hear parler le français, but in standard usage, je parle français is the normal form.

What is the difference between parler français and parler en français?

Both can be translated to speak in French, but there is a nuance:

parler français – neutral, most common way to say to speak French.
parler en français – emphasizes the language as the medium you are using, often in contrast with another language.

Examples:

Avec Marie, je parle français.
→ I speak French with Marie (statement of fact/habit).
Parle en français, pas en anglais.
→ Speak in French, not in English. (clear contrast of languages)

In your sentence, je parle français avec Marie is the most natural.
You could say je parle en français avec Marie, but it would sound a bit heavier and more like you’re stressing “in French (not in another language)”.

Why is it parle and not parles or parlez? How is parler conjugated here?

Parler is a regular -er verb. In the present tense, its conjugation is:

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 or formal)
ils / elles parlent – they speak

Your subject is je (I), so the correct form is je parle.

Note that in speech:

je parle, tu parles, il/elle parle, ils/elles parlent all sound the same: /paʁl/.
The endings -e, -es, -e, -ent are silent; only the stem parl- is heard.

Can this French sentence mean both “I speak French with Marie during class” (habitually) and “I am speaking French with Marie during class” (right now)?

Yes. French has only one simple present tense (the présent de l’indicatif), and it usually covers both:

English simple present:
- I speak French with Marie during class.
English present continuous:
- I am speaking French with Marie during class.

So:

Pendant le cours, je parle français avec Marie.

can mean:

a general habit: During class, I (usually) speak French with Marie.
or what is happening now: Right now, during class, I am speaking French with Marie.

Context tells you which interpretation is intended.

Why is avec Marie at the end? Could I say Avec Marie, je parle français pendant le cours?

Yes, you can move avec Marie. All of these are grammatically correct:

Pendant le cours, je parle français avec Marie.
Je parle français avec Marie pendant le cours.
Avec Marie, je parle français pendant le cours.

Typical natural orders:

Subject + verb + complements, then optional time phrase:
- Je parle français avec Marie pendant le cours.
Start with time:
- Pendant le cours, je parle français avec Marie.
Start with the “with X” phrase to emphasize the person:
- Avec Marie, je parle français pendant le cours.

Changing the order mainly changes what you emphasize (the time, the person, etc.), but the basic meaning stays the same.

How do you pronounce Pendant le cours, je parle français avec Marie? Any silent letters or liaisons?

Key pronunciation points (standard French):

Pendant → /pɑ̃dɑ̃/
- both en and an are nasal vowels (no clear “n” sound at the end)
- final t is silent
le → /lə/
cours → /kuʁ/
- ou like “oo” in food
- final s is silent
je → /ʒə/ (“zhuh”)
parle → /paʁl/
- final e is silent
français → /fʁɑ̃sɛ/
- ç = s sound
- ai here is like é (/e/) or slightly opener /ɛ/ depending on accent
- final s is silent
avec → /avɛk/
- final c = k sound
Marie → /maʁi/
- stress is at the end of the phrase in French, not strongly on a single word

Possible liaison:

Between pendant and le: you may hear pendant le as /pɑ̃dɑ̃tlə/ (a soft t linking). This liaison is optional but common in careful speech.

So a natural flow is something like:

/pɑ̃dɑ̃ (t) lə kuʁ ʒə paʁl fʁɑ̃sɛ avɛk maʁi/

Why is français not capitalized here? In English, “French” would be capitalized.

In French:

Names of languages are not capitalized:
- je parle français / anglais / espagnol.
Adjectives of nationality are also not capitalized:
- un étudiant français, une professeure anglaise.

Capitalization happens when it’s a noun referring to a person:

un Français – a Frenchman
une Française – a French woman

So in your sentence, français is the name of the language, so it is correctly written with a lowercase f.

What is cours exactly? Is it masculine or feminine, and how is it different from classe?

Cours is:

masculine: le cours
spelled the same in singular and plural:
- le cours – the class / lesson
- les cours – the classes / lessons (pronounced the same; only le/les changes)

Meaning:

un cours is a lesson, class, course, i.e. the teaching session or its content.

Classe is:

feminine: la classe
Often means:
- the group of students
- sometimes the classroom
- or the class period in school context

Common contrasts:

Pendant le cours de français, la classe est bruyante.
– During the French lesson, the class (group of students) is noisy.

In your sentence, pendant le cours refers to the lesson/session itself, so cours is the right word.

Could I drop je and just say Parle français avec Marie pendant le cours?

If you drop je, the sentence changes meaning:

Parle français avec Marie pendant le cours.

is an imperative (a command):

“Speak French with Marie during class.”

In standard French, you must use the subject pronoun (je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles) in normal statements:

Je parle français avec Marie. – I speak French with Marie.

Unlike in Spanish or Italian, you cannot normally omit the subject pronoun in French (except in commands, or in very informal, chopped-up speech).

Is the comma after cours necessary in Pendant le cours, je parle français avec Marie?

The comma is normal and recommended, but not absolutely mandatory.

Rule of thumb:

When you put a time phrase at the beginning, French usually writes a comma after it:
- Pendant le cours, je parle français avec Marie.
- Le matin, je bois du café.

Without the comma:

Pendant le cours je parle français avec Marie.

is still understandable, but it looks less standard and can be harder to parse in writing. In careful written French, keep the comma.