Learn Hardcore French: Avant la visioconférence, elle vérifie que son micro fonctionne et que la lumière est bonne. - Before the videoconference, she checks that her microphone is working and that the lighting is good.

avant + noun/pronoun
- avant la visioconférence = before the videoconference
- avant le dîner, avant le film, avant ça
avant de + infinitive (before doing something)
- Avant de commencer, elle vérifie son micro.
  Before starting, she checks her mic.
avant que + subjunctive clause (before something happens)
- Avant que la visioconférence ne commence, elle vérifie son micro.
  Before the videoconference starts, she checks her mic.

Here we have a noun (la visioconférence), so the correct structure is simply avant + noun → avant la visioconférence. You don’t add de in this case, and avant que is only used before a whole clause with a verb.

Why is it la visioconférence (feminine)? Are there other common ways to say “video call” in French?

visioconférence is feminine because it’s built on conférence, which is feminine: une conférence → une visioconférence, la visioconférence.
Many nouns ending in -tion / -sion are feminine in French: la nation, la télévision, la conversation.

Other common ways to talk about a video call:

une visioconférence (more formal/neutral)
une vidéoconférence (very similar, also common)
une réunion en ligne / en visio
- In everyday speech people often just say en visio:
  - On se voit en visio ? = “Shall we meet on a video call?”

What exactly does elle vérifie mean here? Is it like “checks” or “makes sure”? How is it different from s’assurer or vérifier si?

elle vérifie literally means “she checks / she verifies.”
- Elle vérifie que son micro fonctionne.
  She checks that her mic is working.

Nuances:

vérifier que + indicative = check that something is (in fact) the case.
- Focus on the factual state: is it working or not?
s’assurer que + indicative = make sure that / ensure that.
- Slightly more about the goal/result than the act of checking.
- You could say: Elle s’assure que son micro fonctionne. (very natural)
vérifier si = check whether / see if
- Elle vérifie si son micro fonctionne.
  She checks whether her mic is working.
- Very close in meaning; vérifier si is often used for yes/no type situations.

In practice, vérifier que and vérifier si are both common; s’assurer que is a bit more formal/“careful” in tone.

After vérifie que, shouldn’t the verb be in the subjunctive? Why is it que son micro fonctionne?

French uses the subjunctive mainly after verbs of will, desire, fear, doubt, emotion, necessity, etc.
With vérifier que, the speaker is dealing with concrete facts, not wishes or doubts:

Elle vérifie que son micro fonctionne.
→ She is checking a factual condition: Does it work or not?
→ That calls for the indicative: fonctionne (present indicative).

Note: for fonctionner, the form il fonctionne is the same in indicative and present subjunctive (qu’il fonctionne), but grammatically the mood here is indicative because of vérifier que.

Why is it son micro and not sa micro? In English “microphone” doesn’t feel masculine.

In French, grammatical gender has nothing to do with natural gender or English gender. It depends on the French word:

The full word is un microphone (masculine).
The common shorter form un micro is also masculine.

Possessive adjectives agree with the gender of the noun, not of the owner:

son micro = her mic / his mic (because micro is masculine)
sa caméra = her camera / his camera (because caméra is feminine)

So even though the person is elle (she), you still say son micro, not sa micro, because micro is grammatically masculine.

Could we say son micro marche instead of son micro fonctionne? Is there a difference?

Yes, both are possible:

son micro fonctionne – neutral, slightly more technical/formal
son micro marche – more informal, everyday speech

Both mean “her mic works / is working”.
In writing (instructions, manuals, professional email), fonctionner is more common. In casual conversation, marcher is extremely frequent for devices:

Ça marche ? = “Does it work?”
Mon ordi ne marche plus. = “My computer doesn’t work anymore.”

Why is it la lumière est bonne and not la lumière est bien?

In French, with the verb être, you normally use:

an adjective to describe a noun (a thing, person, situation)
an adverb (like bien) to describe how something is done / how a verb happens

Here we’re describing the quality of the lighting (a noun: la lumière), so we need an adjective:

La lumière est bonne.
→ The lighting is good (quality is good).

Bien is mostly used:

with verbs: Ça se passe bien. (It’s going well.)
or as an invariable comment: C’est bien. (That’s good.)

So la lumière est bien sounds odd unless followed by something (e.g. la lumière est bien dirigée = the light is well directed). On its own, la lumière est bonne is the natural choice.

Why bonne and not bon, and why la lumière instead of sa lumière?

Two separate points:

Agreement of the adjective
- lumière is feminine: la lumière.
- The adjective bon must agree:
  - masculine: bon – Le son est bon. (The sound is good.)
  - feminine: bonne – La lumière est bonne. (The light is good.)
Definite article vs possessive
In French, you often use the definite article (le / la / les) for things that are part of the general environment or clearly linked to the context, even if in English you’d say “her”:
- La lumière est bonne. = The lighting (in the room, for the camera) is good.
- It doesn’t really “belong” to her; it’s just the light where she is.

You could say sa lumière in some special contexts, but for everyday “the lighting is good (for the video)”, French naturally says la lumière.

Do we have to repeat que in que son micro fonctionne et que la lumière est bonne? Could we say …qu’elle vérifie que son micro fonctionne et la lumière est bonne?

In this kind of sentence, repeating que is the clearest and most natural:

✅ Elle vérifie que son micro fonctionne et que la lumière est bonne.

If you drop the second que:

❌ Elle vérifie que son micro fonctionne et la lumière est bonne.

this sounds odd or even ungrammatical to many native speakers, because vérifier que… normally introduces a complete clause each time.

In some cases with other verbs, you can omit a repeated que in writing, but here the safe, idiomatic choice is to repeat “que” before each clause.

Any important pronunciation tips for this sentence?

Yes, a few helpful points (approximate sounds for English speakers):

Avant la → a-van la
- Final t of avant is usually silent: avan.
visioconférence → vee-zyo-kon-fé-rahns
- visio = vee-zyo (like “video” but with zyo at the end)
- Stress is light and tends to fall near the end: kon-fé-RAHNS (not strong like in English).
elle vérifie → el vé-ri-fi
- Final -e in vérifie is almost silent; 3 syllables.
son micro → son mee-kro
- micro = mee-kro (not MY-kro).
fonctionne → fonk-syon
- Think “fonk-syon”, with a nasal on.
lumière → lu-myair
- The -ière part = yair (one syllable).
bonne → bonn
- Final e is not fully pronounced; it just slightly softens the n.

Spoken smoothly, there are no compulsory tricky liaisons here; you can keep the words clearly separated:
Avant la visioconférence, elle vérifie que son micro fonctionne et que la lumière est bonne.