Learn Hardcore French: Pour comprendre ses émotions, Marie discute avec une psychologue qui travaille près du campus. - To understand her emotions, Marie talks with a psychologist who works near the campus.

Pour + infinitive is a very common way in French to express purpose:
- Pour comprendre, Marie discute… → In order to understand, Marie talks…
- Pour réussir, il faut travailler. → To/in order to succeed, you have to work.

You could also say Afin de comprendre, which is a bit more formal; pour is the everyday, neutral option.

Why is it ses émotions and not son émotions or sa émotions?

In French, son / sa / ses agree with the thing possessed, not with the owner.

émotion is feminine singular → son émotion
émotions is feminine plural → ses émotions

So:

ses émotions = her emotions (plural)
son émotion = her emotion (singular)

You never say sa émotions, because sa is only for singular feminine nouns, and émotions is plural.

How do we know that ses refers to Marie and not to the psychologist?

We know it mainly from context and word order.

The introductory clause is:

Pour comprendre ses émotions, Marie discute…
The purpose (“to understand her emotions”) is clearly Marie’s purpose, and Marie is the subject of the main clause. So the default interpretation is:
- Marie wants to understand her own emotions.

If the writer wanted to make it clear that these were the psychologist’s emotions, they would probably rephrase, for example:

Pour comprendre les émotions de la psychologue, Marie discute avec elle.
(To understand the psychologist’s emotions…)

French can add emphasis with ses propres émotions (her own emotions) if needed, but here it’s not necessary; it’s naturally understood as Marie’s.

Why is it discute avec and not discute à or parle à?

The verb discuter works differently from parler:

discuter avec quelqu’un = to discuss / talk with someone
- discuter avec une psychologue ✔️
You do not say discuter à quelqu’un ❌

With parler, you can say:

parler à quelqu’un or parler avec quelqu’un
- parler à une psychologue ✔️
- parler avec une psychologue ✔️

So in this sentence, discute avec is the correct structure. It emphasizes having a discussion or conversation with someone.

What’s the nuance between discuter and parler here?

Both involve speaking, but:

parler = to speak / talk (very general)
- Marie parle avec une psychologue. → Marie talks with a psychologist.
discuter = to discuss, to have a discussion (often suggests an exchange, maybe more focused or serious)
- Marie discute avec une psychologue. → Marie is discussing things with a psychologist.

In this context (about emotions and a psychologist), discuter suggests a more engaged, back‑and‑forth conversation, which fits well with therapy or counseling.

Parler avec une psychologue would also be correct; it’s just a bit more neutral.

Why is it une psychologue? Is psychologue a feminine noun?

Psychologue is what’s called an epicene noun in French: the spelling is the same for masculine and feminine.

un psychologue = a (male) psychologist
une psychologue = a (female) psychologist

The article (un/une) tells you the gender of the person, not the ending of psychologue itself. The word ending -logue doesn’t automatically mean feminine; it’s neutral in terms of gender.

So when do I use un psychologue vs une psychologue?

You choose un or une depending on the gender of the person you’re talking about:

un psychologue → a man who is a psychologist
une psychologue → a woman who is a psychologist

If you don’t know the gender, you might see:

un·e psychologue or un(e) psychologue in writing, as a gender‑inclusive form.
In standard speech, though, you normally pick one based on what you know about the person.

What does qui refer to in une psychologue qui travaille près du campus?

Here qui is a relative pronoun meaning who/that, and it refers to une psychologue:

une psychologue qui travaille près du campus
→ a psychologist who works near the campus

Grammatically:

qui is the subject of the verb travaille
It links the relative clause qui travaille près du campus to une psychologue

Why is it près du campus and not près de le campus?

In French, de + le contracts to du:

près de = near
le campus = the campus
→ près de le campus ❌
→ près du campus ✔️

This contraction is mandatory in standard French:

de + le → du
à + le → au

So you must say près du campus.

Can I say près de campus without “the”, like “near campus” in English?

In most cases, no. French usually needs an article before common nouns:

English: near campus
Natural French: près du campus (with du = de + le)

près de campus sounds wrong unless Campus is being used as a proper name (for example, the official name of a place or company).

For a general university campus, stick with près du campus.

What’s the difference between près de and proche de?

Both can mean near / close to, but there are some tendencies:

près de is very common and neutral for physical proximity:
- Elle travaille près du campus. → She works near the campus.
proche de can be:
- physical: proche du campus = close to the campus
- or more figurative:
  - Ils sont très proches. → They are very close (emotionally).

In this sentence, près du campus is the most natural everyday choice, but Elle travaille proche du campus is still understandable and acceptable in many contexts.