Learn Hardcore French: La course à pied m’aide à rester calme, même quand la semaine a été difficile. - Running helps me stay calm, even when the week has been difficult.

So La course à pied m’aide… literally means “Running (as an activity) helps me…”. Using courir here would require a different structure, e.g. Le fait de courir m’aide… but that sounds heavier and less natural in everyday speech.

Why is it la course à pied and not le course à pied?

Because course is a feminine noun in French, so it takes la:

la course (the race / running)
une course (a race / an errand)

The added à pied (“on foot”) doesn’t change the gender. The head noun course stays feminine, so the correct article is la.

What exactly does à pied add here? Could we just say la course?

À pied literally means “on foot.”

la course alone can mean “a race” or “errand/shopping trip,” and it’s more ambiguous.
la course à pied is a set expression that clearly means “running (as a sport), jogging.”

So à pied specifies the type of course and avoids confusion.

Why is it m’aide and not m’aident?

The verb must agree with the subject, which is la course à pied (singular), not with m’:

Subject: la course à pied → 3rd person singular
Verb: aide (3rd person singular of aider)
Object pronoun: me → m’ before a vowel

So: La course à pied m’aide… = “Running helps me…”
M’ is just the object (“me”), it doesn’t control the verb’s agreement.

Why does me come before the verb in m’aide?

In French, object pronouns normally go before the conjugated verb:

La course à pied m’aide. (Running helps me.)
La course à pied t’aide. (Running helps you.)
La course à pied nous aide. (Running helps us.)

So me becomes m’ (because of the following vowel) and is placed before aide. You can’t say aide-moi here because that form (verb + -moi) is only for commands: Aide-moi ! = “Help me!”

Why is it m’aide à rester and not m’aide de rester?

The verb aider is followed by à when it introduces another verb:

aider quelqu’un à faire quelque chose = to help someone to do something

So:
La course à pied m’aide à rester calme.
= “Running helps me to stay calm.”

Using de (m’aide de rester) would be incorrect here. Some other verbs do take de before an infinitive (essayer de, décider de, arrêter de, etc.), but aider specifically takes à.

Why is it rester calme and not être calme or me calmer?

All three exist, but they don’t mean exactly the same:

rester calme = to stay/remain calm (keep your calm over time)
être calme = to be calm (state of being, more static)
me calmer = to calm down (move from not calm → calm)

M’aider à rester calme matches the idea “helps me stay calm” (maintain calmness).
If you said m’aider à me calmer, it would be “helps me calm down,” focusing more on the moment of becoming calm after being stressed.

Does calme agree with anything here? Why isn’t it calmes?

Yes, calme is an adjective describing the subject je (the implied “I” in m’aide à rester calme).

If the person is singular (I), calme stays singular.
calme has the same form for masculine and feminine in the singular.
It only changes in the plural: calmes.

So with “me” referring to one person, calme (singular) is correct:
…m’aide à rester calme.

What does même quand mean here, and how is it different from même si?

même quand = “even when”
même si = “even if / even though”

In this sentence:
…même quand la semaine a été difficile.
= “…even when the week has been difficult.” (a real situation that actually happens)

Même si could work in a similar idea but can sound a bit more like “even if / even though the week was difficult,” often with a slightly more hypothetical or concessive nuance. Même quand emphasizes “on those occasions when that happens.”

Why is it la semaine a été difficile and not la semaine est difficile?

A été is the passé composé of être and here corresponds to English “has been / was”:

la semaine est difficile = “the week is difficult” (right now, in general)
la semaine a été difficile = “the week has been difficult” (this week, up to now / we’re looking back on it as a completed or nearly completed period)

In your sentence, the speaker is talking about weeks that have been difficult, not just describing them in the present moment.

Why is difficile not marked as feminine to agree with la semaine?

Difficile is one of those adjectives that has the same form for masculine and feminine:

un jour difficile (masc.)
une semaine difficile (fem.)

It only changes in the plural (difficiles):

des semaines difficiles
des jours difficiles

So it does agree with la semaine in gender and number, it just happens that the feminine singular form looks identical to the masculine singular form: difficile.