Learn Hardcore French: Paul joue de la guitare électrique dans le jardin. - Paul plays electric guitar in the garden.

Musical instruments: jouer du piano, jouer de la flûte, jouer de l’orgue, jouer des percussions
Sports/games: jouer au foot, jouer au tennis, jouer aux cartes
Other direct objects: jouer un rôle (play a role), jouer une chanson (play a song), jouer un match (play a match)

So jouer de la guitare is the standard structure for “to play the guitar” in French.

What’s the difference between de la, du, de l’, and des with instruments?

These are the definite articles after de; they agree with the gender and number of the instrument:

de + le → du (masculine singular)
- jouer du piano (play the piano)
de + la → de la (feminine singular)
- jouer de la guitare (play the guitar)
de + l’ → de l’ (before vowel or silent h)
- jouer de l’orgue (play the organ)
de + les → des (plural)
- jouer des percussions (play percussion instruments)

In Paul joue de la guitare électrique, guitare is feminine singular, so we use de la.

How would I make this sentence negative?

Use ne … pas around the verb, and note that de la changes to de after negation:

Affirmative: Paul joue de la guitare électrique dans le jardin.
Negative: Paul ne joue pas de guitare électrique dans le jardin.

Rule: with most verbs, partitive or indefinite articles (du, de la, des, un, une) become de (or d’) in the negative:

Il a une guitare. → Il n’a pas de guitare.
Elle boit du café. → Elle ne boit pas de café.

What exactly does the present tense joue mean here? “Plays”, “is playing”, or “does play”?

The French présent often covers all three English present forms.

Paul joue de la guitare électrique dans le jardin can mean:

“Paul plays electric guitar in the garden” (habitually)
“Paul is playing electric guitar in the garden” (right now; context usually tells you)
“Paul does play electric guitar in the garden” (emphatic in English; normal in French)

French doesn’t distinguish these with different tenses; you get the nuance from context or from extra words like en ce moment (right now), souvent (often), etc.

Why is it de la guitare électrique and not de la électrique guitare?

In French, most adjectives come after the noun, unlike English:

English: electric guitar
French: guitare électrique

So the pattern is:

noun + adjective → guitare électrique, maison blanche, film intéressant

There is a small group of very common adjectives (size, beauty, age, goodness, number: often remembered as BANGS) that usually come before the noun (e.g. une petite maison, un bon film), but électrique is not one of them, so it goes after guitare.

How would I say “Paul plays the electric guitar well in the garden”? Where do I put bien?

A natural sentence is:

Paul joue *bien de la guitare électrique dans le jardin.*

Typical order with jouer de is:

subject + jouer + adverb (e.g. bien, mal, souvent) + de + article + instrument + (place/time)

Other examples:

Elle joue *très bien du piano.* – She plays the piano very well.
Ils jouent *souvent de la guitare le soir.* – They often play guitar in the evening.

Can I move dans le jardin to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Both are correct, with a slightly different emphasis:

Neutral, most common:
Paul joue de la guitare électrique dans le jardin.
Emphasis on the location:
Dans le jardin, Paul joue de la guitare électrique.

Starting with Dans le jardin highlights where this is happening, but grammatically both word orders are fine.

Why is it dans le jardin and not just dans jardin?

In French, common nouns almost always need an article (or another determiner), unlike English.

Correct: dans *le jardin, dans **un jardin, dans **son jardin*
Incorrect: dans jardin (missing article)

le jardin = the garden (a specific or known garden)
un jardin = a garden (not specified which)

So dans le jardin literally means “in the garden”, with the idea that the speaker and listener know which garden is meant (e.g. Paul’s garden).

What’s the difference between dans le jardin and au jardin?

Both can translate as “in the garden”, but there are nuances and usage preferences:

dans le jardin
- Very common and neutral for a physical space: inside the garden/yard area.
- Often used for someone being in their yard/back garden at home.
- Paul joue de la guitare électrique dans le jardin. – in the garden area.
au jardin (= à + le jardin)
- Can sound a bit more literary, or like a set location you “go to” (e.g. a public garden, a park area).
- More common in some fixed expressions (aller au jardin public).

In everyday speech about your own yard, dans le jardin is the default.

Is guitare feminine and jardin masculine? How do I know?

Yes:

la guitare – feminine noun
le jardin – masculine noun

You mostly have to learn the gender of each noun with its article:

la guitare, la table, la voiture (feminine)
le jardin, le livre, le chien (masculine)

Adjectives and some articles change with gender and number, but note:

électrique is the same for masculine and feminine singular:
- une guitare électrique (fem.)
- un piano électrique (masc.)
In the plural, it becomes électriques:
- des guitares électriques, des pianos électriques

If I want to say “Paul plays electric guitars in the garden” (plural), how do I change the sentence?

Grammatically, you’d say:

Paul joue *des guitares électriques dans le jardin.*

However, in practice, French usually uses the singular with instruments to refer to the activity in general, even if there are several physical guitars around:

Paul joue de la guitare électrique dans le jardin.

This normally just means he plays electric guitar, not that there is exactly one guitar. You would only insist on the plural des guitares électriques if you really want to emphasize several different guitars (e.g. in a technical or descriptive context).

Could this sentence also mean “Paul knows how to play electric guitar in the garden”?

By itself, Paul joue de la guitare électrique dans le jardin is usually understood as describing an actual situation (he is/does play there, habitually or right now).

To talk more clearly about ability, French usually uses:

Paul sait jouer de la guitare électrique. – Paul knows how to play electric guitar.
Paul joue bien de la guitare électrique. – Paul plays electric guitar well.

Adding bien or très bien can shift the focus more toward skill, but the original sentence mainly states the activity and the place.

How should I pronounce joue, guitare, and dans le?

Approximate English-style hints:

joue – /ʒu/
- ʒ like the “s” in measure, vision
- ou like “oo” in food
- The e at the end is silent.
guitare – /ɡi.taʁ/
- gui- like “gee” in geese (hard g + ee)
- -ta- like “ta” in taco
- -re with a French r [ʁ], pronounced in the throat; final “e” is very weak or silent.
dans le – usually /dɑ̃ l(ə)/ with liaison:
- dans: nasal vowel like “don” but with air through the nose; you don’t fully pronounce the “n”.
- Before le, you usually link: [dɑ̃‿lə] (the “s” of dans is silent; it’s spelled without s anyway).

So said naturally: Paul joue de la guitare électrique dans le jardin flows as one continuous group, with most final consonants silent or used only in liaison.