Ma sœur parle avec la comptable de l’entreprise avant d’accepter le poste.

Because sœur is a feminine noun in French, so it takes the feminine possessive ma.

• ma sœur = my sister
• mon frère = my brother

French possessives agree with the noun being possessed, not with the owner. So even if a man says ma sœur, it is still ma because sœur is feminine.

Parle is the conjugated form of the verb parler in the present tense.

The infinitive is:

• parler = to speak / to talk

But with ma sœur (she), you need the 3rd person singular form:

• je parle
• tu parles
• il/elle parle

So Ma sœur parle means My sister speaks / is speaking / talks, depending on context.

Yes, parler can be used with both à and avec, but the nuance is slightly different.

• parler à quelqu’un = to speak to someone
• parler avec quelqu’un = to speak with someone

In many everyday situations, both are possible. Here, avec suggests more of a conversation or discussion:

• Ma sœur parle avec la comptable = My sister is talking with the accountant

If you used à, it would sound more like speaking to her rather than emphasizing a two-way exchange.

Yes. Comptable is one of those nouns/job titles that often has the same form in both masculine and feminine.

The gender is shown by the article:

• le comptable = the male accountant
• la comptable = the female accountant

So in this sentence, la comptable tells you the accountant is female.

Because French normally does not leave de directly before a vowel-starting noun with an article. Instead, de + la becomes de l’ before a vowel sound.

• l’entreprise = the company
• de l’entreprise = of the company / from the company

You cannot say de entreprise here. The noun needs its article.

It means of the company or from the company, depending on context.

So:

• la comptable de l’entreprise = the company’s accountant / the accountant from the company

In natural English, the company’s accountant is usually the best translation.

Because after avant, French normally uses de before an infinitive.

• avant de + infinitive = before doing something

So:

• avant d’accepter = before accepting

The e of de disappears before the vowel in accepter, giving d’.

This is a very common pattern:

• avant de partir = before leaving
• avant de manger = before eating
• avant d’accepter = before accepting

The normal interpretation is that the sister is the one accepting the job.

In French, when you have a structure like:

• Ma sœur parle ... avant d’accepter le poste

the infinitive phrase avant d’accepter usually refers back to the main subject, which is ma sœur.

So the idea is:

• My sister talks with the company’s accountant before accepting the position.

In everyday French, un poste can mean several things depending on context, including post, position, or job.

In this sentence, accepter le poste means:

• to accept the position
• to accept the job

So although poste may look like English post, here it refers to a job position.

Because French does not need a separate auxiliary like English is for the simple present.

English often says:

• My sister is talking...

French simply uses the present tense:

• Ma sœur parle...

French present tense can cover:

• speaks
• is speaking
• does speak (in some contexts)

So parle already contains the meaning; no separate word for is is needed.

The accent matters for spelling and pronunciation.

• sœur contains œ, which represents a specific vowel sound in French.
• entreprise has no accent, but in d’accepter, the apostrophe appears because of de + accepter.

For learners, the important point is that accents and special letter combinations are not optional decoration in French. They are part of the correct spelling and often affect pronunciation or distinguish words.

Yes, but then French usually uses avant que + subjunctive, not avant de.

Compare:

• avant d’accepter le poste = before accepting the job
• avant qu’elle accepte the poste would need correct French form: avant qu’elle n’accepte le poste = before she accepts the job

Use avant de when the subject is understood and usually the same as the main subject. Use avant que when you state a separate subject explicitly.

It could do either, depending on context.

The French present tense can express:

1. what is happening now

   • My sister is talking with the accountant before accepting the job.

2. a habitual action

   • My sister talks with the accountant before accepting the position.

Without more context, both are grammatically possible. The surrounding conversation would tell you which meaning is intended.