Learn Hardcore French: Je parle aux voisins dans le jardin. - I talk to the neighbors in the garden.

French almost always uses these contractions (also au = à + le, aux = à + les, du = de + le, des = de + les). You should never write the non‑contracted forms in standard French.

Why do we need à at all? Why not just Je parle les voisins?

The verb parler does not work like English to talk or to speak with a direct object. In French:

To speak to someone: parler à quelqu’un
- Je parle aux voisins. = I speak to the neighbors.
To speak with someone: parler avec quelqu’un
- Je parle avec les voisins. = I speak with the neighbors.

If you say Je parle les voisins, it sounds like I speak the neighbors—which is wrong and ungrammatical in French. You must keep the preposition à (or avec).

What is the difference between parler à and parler avec?

Both can be used with people, but the nuance is:

parler à quelqu’un
- Focus on speaking to someone (direction of speech).
- Can be one‑sided: you speak, they listen.
- Je parle aux voisins. = I’m addressing them.
parler avec quelqu’un
- Emphasizes a conversation or interaction.
- More clearly two‑way.
- Je parle avec les voisins. = I’m having a talk with them.

In many situations you can use either, but parler à is more basic and more common.

Why is it aux voisins (plural) and not au voisin (singular)? How would the meaning change?

aux voisins = to the neighbors (more than one neighbor)
- Je parle aux voisins. = I’m speaking to several neighbors.
au voisin = to the neighbor (just one)
- Je parle au voisin. = I’m speaking to the neighbor.

Grammatically:

au = à + le (singular, masculine)
aux = à + les (plural, any gender)

So you choose au or aux depending on whether you’re talking to one neighbor or several.

What exactly does voisins mean? Does it include women?

Voisin is the noun neighbor:

un voisin = a male neighbor
une voisine = a female neighbor
des voisins = neighbors (all men or a mixed group)
des voisines = neighbors (all women)

In your sentence, aux voisins uses the masculine plural. In French, the masculine plural is the default when the group is mixed or when the gender is not specified. So aux voisins can mean:

male neighbors only, or
mixed male+female neighbors, or
an unspecified group of neighbors.

If you know they are all women, you would say aux voisines.

Why is it dans le jardin and not just dans jardin?

In French, you normally need an article (like le, la, les) in front of a singular, countable noun such as jardin.

le jardin = the garden
dans le jardin = in the garden

Leaving out the article (dans jardin) is ungrammatical in standard French. French uses articles much more than English does.

Could you also say au jardin instead of dans le jardin? Is there a difference?

You can say:

Je parle aux voisins au jardin.

However, there are nuances:

dans le jardin
- Neutral, literal: physically inside the garden area.
- Very common and standard.
au jardin
- Literally à + le jardin.
- Feels a bit more idiomatic or stylistic; in modern everyday speech it may sound a bit literary/regional, depending on context.
- Often used with certain places (e.g. au parc, au jardin public) as destinations or habitual places.

In most learner contexts, dans le jardin is the safest and clearest choice.

What is the difference between parler aux voisins and parler des voisins?

This is an important contrast:

parler aux voisins = to speak to the neighbors
- à introduces the person you’re addressing.
parler des voisins = to speak about the neighbors
- de introduces the topic of conversation.

Examples:

Je parle aux voisins dans le jardin.
I am speaking to the neighbors in the garden.
Je parle des voisins dans le jardin.
In the garden, I am talking about the neighbors (to someone else).

So à = to (someone), de = about (something/someone).

Can I move dans le jardin to another position in the sentence?

Yes. French word order is flexible for adverbials like dans le jardin, though not as flexible as English. All of these are correct, with small differences in emphasis:

Je parle aux voisins dans le jardin.
Neutral: I’m talking to the neighbors, and this happens in the garden.
Dans le jardin, je parle aux voisins.
Emphasis on location: In the garden, I talk to the neighbors (maybe contrasting with somewhere else).
Je parle dans le jardin aux voisins.
Possible, but less natural; it can slightly emphasize where you’re speaking rather than to whom.

The most natural version is usually the original: Je parle aux voisins dans le jardin.

How do you pronounce Je parle aux voisins dans le jardin?

Approximate IPA and notes:

Je → /ʒə/ (like “zhuh”)
parle → /paʁl/ (-e is silent; final -le is a dark l)
aux → /o/ (sounds like English “oh”)
voisins → /vwazɛ̃/
- voi- → /vwa/ (like vwa)
- -sins → /zɛ̃/ (nasal vowel; the n is not fully pronounced)
dans → /dɑ̃/ (nasal vowel; final s silent)
le → /lə/
jardin → /ʒaʁdɛ̃/

Important liaison:

aux voisins → /o vwa.zɛ̃/
- The x of aux is not pronounced as [ks]; instead, there is a liaison: you say /o v.../, linking smoothly into voisins.

Full sentence:

Je parle aux voisins dans le jardin.
→ /ʒə paʁl o vwa.zɛ̃ dɑ̃ lə ʒaʁdɛ̃/

How do I say “I’m not speaking to the neighbors in the garden”? Where do ne and pas go?

The basic negation pattern in French is:

ne
- verb + pas

With your sentence:

Je ne parle pas aux voisins dans le jardin.

Breakdown:

Je – subject
ne – first part of negation
parle – verb
pas – second part of negation
aux voisins dans le jardin – rest of the sentence

In everyday spoken French, people often drop ne:

Je parle pas aux voisins dans le jardin. (very common in speech)

But in writing and in exams, you should use the full ne … pas form.

Why do we say Je parle and not something like Moi parle?

In French, the subject pronoun (like je, tu, il) is normally mandatory with a conjugated verb. You cannot usually drop it or replace it with moi:

Je parle aux voisins. ✅
Moi parle aux voisins. ❌

Moi is a stressed pronoun, used for emphasis or after prepositions:

Moi, je parle aux voisins. = As for me, I talk to the neighbors.
Ils parlent de moi. = They talk about me.

So:

Use je as the normal subject.
Use moi only in special positions (for emphasis, after prepositions, in short answers, etc.).

Does Je parle mean “I speak” or “I am speaking”?

Je parle can correspond to both English tenses:

I speak (habitually / in general)
I am speaking (right now)

Context tells you which is meant. French uses the simple present for both:

Tous les jours, je parle aux voisins.
= Every day, I speak/talk to the neighbors.
Chut, je parle aux voisins dans le jardin.
= Shh, I’m speaking to the neighbors in the garden (right now).

French only rarely uses a progressive form like je suis en train de parler, which is more like I am in the middle of speaking.