Learn Hardcore French: Nous parlons souvent de la politique pendant le dîner. - We often talk about politics during dinner.

Nous = we
For regular -er verbs like parler, the present tense endings are:
- je parle
- tu parles
- il / elle / on parle
- nous parlons
- vous parlez
- ils / elles parlent

Since the subject is nous, you must use the nous form parlons.
Parle would go with je / tu / il / elle / on, and parlent would go with ils / elles.

Why is souvent placed after parlons, and can it go somewhere else?

In French, adverbs of frequency like souvent (often) usually come right after the conjugated verb.

So:

Nous parlons souvent de la politique... = correct and natural.

Other possibilities:

Souvent, nous parlons de la politique pendant le dîner.
This is also correct; putting souvent at the very beginning adds a bit of emphasis, like “Often, we talk about politics…”
Nous parlons de la politique souvent pendant le dîner.
This is possible, but it sounds less neutral and can feel slightly heavier or more marked. The most standard, neutral position is after the verb: parlons souvent.

You cannot put it between nous and parlons:

✗ nous souvent parlons → incorrect.

Why do we say parler de la politique and not just parler la politique?

With the meaning “to talk about something”, French uses parler de + noun.

parler de quelque chose = to talk about something
parler de la politique = to talk about politics

So you need the preposition de:

Nous parlons de la politique. = We talk about politics.

If you say parler la politique, it sounds like “to speak politics” as a language, which doesn’t make sense.

Compare:

parler de quelque chose → to talk about something
parler à quelqu’un → to speak to someone
parler avec quelqu’un → to speak with someone

Why is it de la politique and not de le politique, du politique, or just de politique?

A few points are involved here: gender, contraction, and articles.

Gender of politique
- politique (meaning politics as a field) is a feminine noun in French.
- So you say la politique (not le politique).
de + la
- de + la does not contract; it stays de la.
- Contractions:
  - de + le → du (masculine)
  - de + les → des (plural)
  - de + la → de la (feminine, no change)
Since politique is feminine:
- de + la politique → de la politique, not du politique and not de le politique.
Why not de politique (without la)?
Both are possible, but the nuance is slightly different:
- parler de la politique
  → often feels a bit more specific, as a defined subject area (the world of politics, political affairs, etc.).
- parler de politique
  → sounds a bit more general/abstract: “talk about politics (as a topic).”

In everyday conversation, parler de la politique and parler de politique can often both work; the sentence you have is perfectly natural.

In English we say “talk about politics” without the. Why does French use la in la politique?

French uses definite articles (le, la, les) much more than English, especially with:

abstract nouns (e.g. l’amour, la liberté, la politique)
general concepts and fields of study (e.g. la médecine, la chimie, l’histoire)

So where English often drops the:

Politics is complicated.
French often keeps it:
La politique est compliquée.

The same applies after parler de when it’s about a specific domain:

Nous parlons de la politique.
even though English says “We talk about politics.”

Why is it pendant le dîner and not au dîner or something else?

Pendant focuses on duration – it means “during” or “for (the length of)”.

pendant le dîner = during the dinner / while dinner is happening.

Au dîner (from à + le) literally means “at the dinner” and is used more to locate an event:

Je l’ai rencontré au dîner. = I met him/her at the dinner (event).

In your sentence:

Nous parlons souvent de la politique pendant le dîner.
emphasizes that this talking happens while you are having dinner, over the course of the meal.

Alternatives and nuances:

au dîner → more like at the dinner (as an event).
durant le dîner → a bit more formal/literary than pendant.
en dînant → while dining / while having dinner; more like “as we eat”:
- Nous parlons souvent de politique en dînant.

All are grammatically correct, but pendant le dîner is the straightforward, neutral way to say “during dinner.”

Why is there a le in le dîner? Could we just say pendant dîner?

You cannot say ✗ pendant dîner in French; you need a determiner (usually an article) with dîner when it’s used as a noun.

le dîner = the dinner (the evening meal)

With meals, French very often uses the definite article le / la:

le petit-déjeuner = breakfast
le déjeuner = lunch
le dîner = dinner

So:

pendant le dîner = during dinner

When dîner is a verb, then there is no article:

Nous dînons à huit heures. = We have dinner at eight o’clock.

In your sentence, dîner is a noun (the meal itself), so le is required: pendant le dîner.

Could we say On parle souvent de la politique pendant le dîner instead of Nous parlons…? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

On parle souvent de la politique pendant le dîner.

In modern spoken French:

on is very commonly used instead of nous to mean “we”.
The verb then takes the il/elle/on form: on parle, on mange, etc.

Differences:

Nous parlons…
- more standard, a bit more formal or written.
- clearly indicates “we,” the group including the speaker.
On parle…
- very common in everyday spoken French.
- usually means we, but can also sometimes mean people in general / they depending on context.

So, in casual conversation, many native speakers would naturally say:

On parle souvent de politique pendant le dîner.

Your original Nous parlons souvent de la politique pendant le dîner. is perfectly correct and maybe slightly more “textbook” or neutral/formal.

Is there any difference between parler de la politique and parler politique?

Yes, there is a nuance:

parler de la politique / parler de politique
- Standard structure: parler de + noun.
- Means “to talk about politics.”
- Neutral and widely used.
parler politique
- Here, politique is used almost like an adverbial noun.
- Means something like “talk politics” (in a more compact, somewhat informal or idiomatic way).
- You might hear: On ne va pas parler politique ce soir. = Let’s not talk politics tonight.

Both are understood, but parler de (la) politique is the safer, more standard form for learners.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral in French?

The sentence

Nous parlons souvent de la politique pendant le dîner.

is neutral in terms of register:

Nous parlons instead of On parle → slightly more formal or standard.
Vocabulary (souvent, politique, pendant le dîner) is completely ordinary.

You could use it in:

a textbook
a conversation with friends
a description in writing

If you wanted it to sound more everyday spoken, you might say:

On parle souvent de politique pendant le dîner.

How is this sentence pronounced, especially the liaison between nous and parlons?

Approximate pronunciation (in IPA):

Nous parlons souvent de la politique pendant le dîner.
→ /nu paʁlɔ̃ suvɑ̃ də la pɔlitik pɑ̃dɑ̃ lə dine/

Key points:

nous parlons: /nu paʁlɔ̃/
- There is usually no liaison here in everyday speech, so you hear [nu] [paʁlɔ̃], not [nuz paʁlɔ̃].
souvent: /suvɑ̃/
- Final -t is silent.
de la: /də la/
politique: /pɔlitik/
- Final -que pronounced /k/.
pendant: /pɑ̃dɑ̃/
- Both en and an here are the nasal sound /ɑ̃/.
le dîner: /lə dine/
- The accent on dîner changes the vowel quality; dîner is /dine/.

Spoken fluently, the sentence flows as one smooth chain: nu paʁlɔ̃ suvɑ̃ də la pɔlitik pɑ̃dɑ̃ lə dine.