Learn Hardcore French: Le photographe parle avec Marie dans le jardin. - The photographer is talking with Marie in the garden.

Le photographe = the photographer (a specific one the speaker has in mind)
It tells you:
- the noun is masculine
- the noun is singular
- we are talking about a specific photographer, not just any photographer in general

If you wanted to say a photographer, you would use the indefinite article: un photographe.

Is photographe masculine or feminine? What if the photographer is a woman?

The noun photographe itself has one form in writing. The gender is shown by the article:

le photographe = the (male) photographer
la photographe = the (female) photographer
un photographe = a (male) photographer
une photographe = a (female) photographer

So if the photographer in the sentence is a woman, you would say:

La photographe parle avec Marie dans le jardin.

Why is it parle and not parler?

Parler is the infinitive form: to speak / to talk.
Parle is the conjugated form for il / elle / on in the present tense:

il parle = he speaks / he is speaking
elle parle = she speaks / she is speaking

In the sentence, Le photographe is the subject, so you need the 3rd person singular form: parle.

How do you conjugate parler in the present tense?

Parler (to speak) is a regular -er verb:

je parle – I speak / I am speaking
tu parles – you speak (singular, informal)
il / elle / on parle – he / she / one speaks
nous parlons – we speak
vous parlez – you speak (formal or plural)
ils / elles parlent – they speak

In our sentence, Le photographe = il, so the correct form is parle.

Why do we need avec in parle avec Marie? Why can’t we just say parle Marie?

In French, you almost always need a preposition to show the relationship between the verb and the person you interact with.

parler avec quelqu’un = to talk with someone
parler à quelqu’un = to talk to someone

You cannot say parler Marie; that would sound like “to speak Marie,” which is wrong in both French and English. You must say parler avec Marie or parler à Marie.

What is the difference between parler avec Marie, parler à Marie, and parler de Marie?

They express different relationships:

parler avec Marie
- to talk with Marie (she participates in the conversation)
parler à Marie
- to talk to Marie (focus on the direction of speaking: you → Marie)
parler de Marie
- to talk about Marie (she is the topic, not necessarily present)

In your sentence, parle avec Marie makes it clear that Marie is in the conversation.

Why is it dans le jardin and not dans jardin?

In French, you normally need an article before a noun, even after many prepositions.

dans le jardin = in the garden

You generally cannot drop the article the way English sometimes does. So:

❌ dans jardin – incorrect
✅ dans le jardin – correct

Here, le shows that jardin is masculine singular.

What does dans le jardin mean exactly, and is jardin masculine or feminine?

Dans le jardin means in the garden.

jardin is a masculine noun.
With the definite article, you get le jardin = the garden.
With dans
- le, you get dans le jardin = in the garden.

You find the gender of a noun in a dictionary; it’s not always obvious from the spelling.

Can I say au jardin instead of dans le jardin?

Yes, au jardin is possible, but there is a nuance:

au jardin = à + le jardin. Literally “at the garden,” often understood as in/at the garden, more general.
dans le jardin = in the garden, more literally inside the space.

In many everyday contexts they can overlap, but dans le jardin emphasizes being inside the garden area. Au jardin can be slightly more literary or used in fixed expressions.

Can I move dans le jardin to another place in the sentence?

Yes. French word order is fairly flexible for place phrases. All of these are correct:

Le photographe parle avec Marie dans le jardin. (neutral)
Le photographe, dans le jardin, parle avec Marie. (slight emphasis on the place)
Dans le jardin, le photographe parle avec Marie. (stronger emphasis on “in the garden”)

The most natural, neutral version in everyday speech is the original: Le photographe parle avec Marie dans le jardin.

How is this sentence pronounced? Are any letters silent?

Approximate pronunciation (in IPA):
Le photographe parle avec Marie dans le jardin
/lə fɔ.tɔ.ɡʁaf paʁl a.vɛk ma.ʁi dɑ̃ lə ʒaʁ.dɛ̃/

Key points:

le – /lə/, very short, like “leuh”
photographe – ph = /f/, final e pronounced: /fɔ.tɔ.ɡʁaf/
parle – /paʁl/, final e is silent, but the l is pronounced
avec – /a.vɛk/, the c is /k/
Marie – /ma.ʁi/
dans – /dɑ̃/, final s silent, nasal vowel
le – /lə/
jardin – /ʒaʁ.dɛ̃/, final n silent, nasal vowel

There is usually no liaison between parle and avec; you just say /paʁl a.vɛk/. Between avec and Marie, you may hear a slight linking of the sounds in natural speech, but no extra consonant is added.

Why is Marie capitalized but photographe and jardin are not?

In French:

Proper nouns (names of people, cities, countries, etc.) are capitalized:
- Marie, Jean, Paris, France
Common nouns are written with a lowercase letter, unless they start the sentence:
- photographe, jardin, chat, maison

Here, Marie is a person’s name, so it’s capitalized.
Photographe and jardin are common nouns, so they stay lowercase.

How would I replace Marie with a pronoun in this sentence?

With the preposition avec, you use a stress pronoun (also called disjunctive pronoun):

avec moi – with me
avec toi – with you
avec lui – with him
avec elle – with her
avec nous – with us
avec vous – with you
avec eux / elles – with them (masc./fem.)

So:

Le photographe parle avec Marie dans le jardin.
→ Le photographe parle avec elle dans le jardin.

How would I make this sentence plural?

If you want several photographers:

Les photographes parlent avec Marie dans le jardin.
- Le → Les (plural definite article)
- photographe → photographes (add -s)
- parle → parlent (3rd person plural form of parler)

Pronunciation tip:

parle and parlent are pronounced the same: /paʁl/ (the final -nt is silent).