Learn Hardcore French: Notre mode de vie en ville est différent de celui à la campagne. - Our lifestyle in the city is different from the one in the countryside.

vie on its own = life (very general)
- Notre vie en ville = Our life in the city
mode de vie = way of living, lifestyle, habits, daily routine, values, etc.
- Notre mode de vie en ville = Our lifestyle / way of life in the city

So the sentence Notre mode de vie en ville est différent de celui à la campagne focuses on the style or pattern of living (rhythm, habits, social life, etc.), not just the bare fact of living somewhere.

Why is it notre mode de vie and not nos modes de vie?

French normally treats mode de vie as a single collective concept for a group, even if “our” refers to several people:

Notre mode de vie = Our way of life (one shared lifestyle)
Nos modes de vie would mean “our (several) ways of life,” suggesting multiple distinct lifestyles, which is not usually what’s meant.

So notre is singular because it agrees with the singular noun mode (in mode de vie), which is viewed as one shared thing.

Why is it en ville but à la campagne? What’s the difference between en, à, and dans here?

For places like ville and campagne, French has some very fixed, idiomatic patterns.

en ville
- This is a set phrase meaning roughly “in town / in the city.”
- It doesn’t specify a particular city; it’s more like a general environment: urban life.
- Examples:
  - Ils habitent en ville. = They live in town.
  - Je préfère vivre en ville. = I prefer living in the city.
à la campagne
- This is another fixed expression meaning “in the countryside.”
- Again, it’s not a specific field or exact location; it’s the rural environment in general.
- Examples:
  - Mes grands-parents vivent à la campagne. = My grandparents live in the countryside.
  - Je pars à la campagne ce week‑end. = I’m going to the countryside this weekend.
Why not dans la ville / dans la campagne?
- dans la ville = in the (particular) city, more concrete and specific (inside the city limits).
- dans la campagne is much less common and sounds odd in most contexts; you’d nearly always say à la campagne.

In your sentence, the idea is urban life in general vs rural life in general, so the idiomatic pair en ville / à la campagne is exactly right.

Why does the adjective use différent de and not something like différent que or différent à?

In standard French, différent is normally followed by de when you introduce what something is different from:

différent de quelque chose / de quelqu’un
- Notre mode de vie est différent de celui à la campagne.
- Ce livre est différent de l’autre.
- Il est très différent de son frère.

différent que is generally considered incorrect in this kind of structure in standard French.
différent à is not used in this sense either.

So you should remember the pattern: différent de + noun/pronoun.

What exactly does celui mean here, and why is it used instead of repeating the whole noun phrase?

Celui is a demonstrative pronoun meaning roughly “the one” / “that one” / “the one that belongs to …”.

It’s used to avoid repeating a previously mentioned masculine singular noun. Here it stands for mode de vie:

Full (repetitive) version:
Notre mode de vie en ville est différent de (notre) mode de vie à la campagne.
With a pronoun:
Notre mode de vie en ville est différent de celui à la campagne.
→ “Our way of life in the city is different from the one (we have) in the countryside.”

So celui = “the one (i.e., the mode de vie) in the countryside.”

Common pattern:

celui = the one (masc. sg.)
celle = the one (fem. sg.)
ceux = the ones (masc. pl.)
celles = the ones (fem. pl.)

Example:

Ce livre est plus intéressant que celui que tu lis.
= This book is more interesting than the one you’re reading.

Why is it celui and not celle? Which word is it agreeing with?

Celui agrees in gender and number with the noun it replaces, not with the nearest word.

Here, it replaces mode de vie:

mode is masculine singular: un mode
so the matching pronoun is celui (masc. sg.)

If the original noun had been feminine, you would use celle instead:

Notre vie en ville est différente de celle à la campagne.
→ Here, celle replaces vie (which is feminine).

So you choose celui / celle / ceux / celles based on the gender and number of the omitted noun.

Could we say Notre vie en ville est différente de celle à la campagne instead? How would that change the meaning?

Yes, that’s perfectly correct French:

Notre vie en ville est différente de celle à la campagne.

Differences in nuance:

mode de vie = lifestyle, way of life, habits, routine, etc.
vie = life (more general)

So:

Notre mode de vie en ville…
→ emphasizes lifestyle / way of living.
Notre vie en ville…
→ slightly more general, our life in the city, but in many contexts it will still be understood as including lifestyle.

Grammatically, it works exactly the same way:

celle replaces vie (feminine singular), just as celui replaced mode (masculine singular) in the original sentence.

Is de celui à la campagne completely correct, or should it be de celui de la campagne?

Both can be heard, but they’re not quite the same in feel:

de celui à la campagne (your sentence)
- Interpreted as: “from the one (we have) when we’re in the countryside.”
- It’s slightly elliptical: really it stands for something like
  de celui que nous avons à la campagne.
de celui de la campagne
- Interpreted more as “from the one of the countryside / from the countryside one.”
- This version is also common and perhaps feels a bit more “textbook” to some speakers.

In everyday language, de celui à la campagne is understandable and natural:
Notre mode de vie en ville est différent de celui à la campagne.

If you want to be very explicit and slightly more formal, you could also say:

…est différent de celui que nous avons à la campagne.
…est différent de celui que nous menons à la campagne.
(mener un mode de vie = to lead a way of life)

Why is différent masculine singular? Shouldn’t it agree with ville or campagne somehow?

Adjectives in French agree with the noun they’re describing.

Here the structure is:

Notre mode de vie en ville = subject (masculine singular, because of mode)
est différent = verb + adjective describing mode de vie

So:

mode = masculine singular → différent (masc. sg.) is correct.

It does not agree with:

ville (feminine), because ville is only part of the prepositional phrase en ville, modifying mode de vie.
campagne, because that’s after de and is part of a comparison phrase, not the subject.

If the subject were feminine, you’d see feminine agreement:

Notre vie en ville est différente de celle à la campagne.
(Here vie is feminine, so différente.)

Could the word order be changed, like Notre mode de vie est différent en ville de celui à la campagne? Would that still be correct?

Notre mode de vie est différent en ville de celui à la campagne is grammatically possible, but it sounds less natural and a bit awkward.

In French, it’s more usual to keep the two things you’re directly comparing as close as possible around différent:

Notre mode de vie en ville est différent de celui à la campagne.
(Urban way of life vs rural way of life, clearly juxtaposed.)

If you move en ville after est différent, it slightly blurs what modifies what, and you risk sounding less idiomatic, especially in a simple sentence like this.

So, the original order is the most natural and clear.

How do you pronounce the key parts of this sentence?

Approximate guide (stress is light and fairly even in French; syllables marked with /):

Notre → /NOH‑tr(ə)/
mode de vie → /MOHD də VEE/
- mode: /mɔd/ (like “mod” in English)
- de: /də/, very short, almost like weak “duh”
- vie: /vi/, like English “vee”
en ville → /ɑ̃ VEEL/
- en: nasal vowel /ɑ̃/, like “on” in French or “ahn” through the nose
- ville: /vil/, like “veel”
est différent → /eh dee‑fe‑RÃ/
- final t in différent is usually silent in isolation
de celui → /də sə‑LɥI/
- celui: /sə‑lɥi/ (the lɥ is a bit like “l‑wee” squashed into one sound)
à la campagne → /a la kɑ̃‑PAɲ/
- campagne: /kɑ̃‑paɲ/, with a nasal vowel in the first syllable and gn pronounced like Spanish ñ in España or Italian gn in lasagna

All together, fairly smoothly:
Notre mode de vie en ville est différent de celui à la campagne.
/nohtr(ə) mɔd də vi ɑ̃ vil ɛ di‑fe‑rɑ̃ də sə‑lɥi a la kɑ̃‑paɲ/