Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): En el curso de filosofía hablamos del matrimonio, del divorcio y de otros temas de la vida real. - In the philosophy course we talk about marriage, divorce, and other real-life topics.

curso = the whole course (the subject over a term/semester/year)
- En el curso de filosofía = In the philosophy course / On the philosophy course we…
  It implies what generally happens on that course.
clase = one class session or lesson
- En la clase de filosofía = In philosophy class (more like: in the actual lessons)

So “En el curso de filosofía hablamos…” suggests “as part of this course, we (usually) talk about…”, not just what happened in one specific lesson.

Why is it “hablamos de” and not “hablamos sobre”?

With hablar, both hablar de and hablar sobre are possible:

hablar de algo = to talk about something (most common, completely neutral)
hablar sobre algo = to talk about something (slightly more “topic-focused”, often interchangeable)

In this sentence:
“hablamos del matrimonio, del divorcio y de otros temas…”
de is the standard preposition used with hablar to introduce the topic.

You could also say:

En el curso de filosofía hablamos sobre el matrimonio…
This is still correct; it just sounds a bit more like “we talk on the subject of marriage…”. But in everyday Spanish, hablar de is more frequent and natural.

Why is it “del matrimonio” and not “de el matrimonio”?

Spanish has a mandatory contraction:

de + el → del

So:

❌ de el matrimonio
✅ del matrimonio

The same happens with:

a + el → al
- Voy a el parque ❌ → Voy al parque ✅

This contraction only happens with the masculine singular article el, not with la, los, las.
So:

de la vida real (no contraction)
de los temas (no contraction)
de las personas (no contraction)

Why is “del” repeated: “del matrimonio, del divorcio y de otros temas”? Could I just say “del matrimonio, divorcio y otros temas”?

You could say “del matrimonio, divorcio y otros temas”, and people would understand you, but it sounds a bit incomplete or informal.

Repeating del before each item:

del matrimonio, del divorcio y de otros temas…

makes the list clearer and more natural, especially in careful or written Spanish. Each element is clearly marked as something we “talk about”.

So:

More natural / careful: del matrimonio, del divorcio y de otros temas
Possible but less elegant: del matrimonio, divorcio y otros temas

How do I know if “hablamos” here is present tense (“we talk”) or past tense (“we talked”)?

Hablamos is the same form for:

present indicative (we talk / we are talking):
- (nosotros) hablamos
preterite (simple past) (we spoke / we talked):
- (nosotros) hablamos

So the form is ambiguous. You know the tense from context:

Present (habitual or general):
En el curso de filosofía hablamos del matrimonio…
= In the philosophy course we talk about… (in general, regularly)
Past (finished event):
Ayer en el curso de filosofía hablamos del matrimonio…
= Yesterday in the philosophy course we talked about…

Since the original sentence has no past time marker, it is normally understood as present (what the course is generally about).

Why is it “el matrimonio” and “el divorcio” with definite articles? Could we say just “matrimonio, divorcio”?

You can drop the articles and say:

En el curso de filosofía hablamos de matrimonio, divorcio y otros temas…

That is also correct and sounds a bit more general or “topic-like”.

Using el:

del matrimonio, del divorcio

presents them more as concepts/categories: the institution of marriage, the institution of divorce. In academic or formal contexts, including the article with abstract nouns is very common.

Both versions are acceptable:

With article: slightly more formal, more “the concept of X”
Without article: a bit more bare/neutral: just marriage, divorce

What is the nuance of “temas” here? How is it different from words like “asuntos” or “cuestiones”?

tema = topic, theme, subject (what you talk about, write about, study, etc.)
- otros temas de la vida real = other real-life topics/subjects
asunto = matter, issue, affair, business
- asuntos de la vida real would sound more like real-life matters/problems.
cuestión = question/issue (often more intellectual or controversial)
- cuestiones de la vida real might sound like real-life issues (social, ethical, etc.).

In a course context, temas is the most natural, because we usually talk about the topics covered in a subject or syllabus.

Why do we say “de otros temas de la vida real” and not just “otros temas de la vida real”?

The structure is:

hablamos de
- [things we talk about]

So the full phrase is:

hablamos de
- (del matrimonio), (del divorcio) y (de otros temas de la vida real)

That de belongs to the verb hablar de.
You could reorder:

En el curso de filosofía hablamos de otros temas de la vida real, del matrimonio y del divorcio.

You still need de before the noun phrase that indicates what you talk about. You can’t just say:

❌ hablamos otros temas
You must say:
✅ hablamos de otros temas

Why is it “de la vida real” and not just “de vida real”?

In Spanish, when you describe a noun with another noun plus de, you usually use the article:

temas de la vida real = topics of (the) real life → real-life topics
problemas de la vida moderna = problems of modern life
aspectos de la política actual = aspects of current politics

De vida real without article would sound odd here. You sometimes see patterns without article in very fixed expressions (e.g. clases de yoga, cursos de inglés), but vida real in this context naturally takes la:

la vida real = (the) real life (as a general concept)

Does “vida real” mean the same as “real life” in English, or is it closer to “everyday life”?

Vida real = real life (as opposed to fiction, theory, games, internet, etc.).

It’s close in meaning to English real life, not so much everyday life.

vida diaria / vida cotidiana = everyday life, day-to-day life
- Focus on routine, daily activities.
vida real = real life (non-fiction, actual lived reality)
- In this sentence it contrasts with purely theoretical/philosophical issues: we talk about real-life topics.

So:

temas de la vida real ≈ “real-life topics”
temas de la vida cotidiana ≈ “everyday-life topics” (more about daily routines, habits)

Could the word order be changed, for example: “En el curso de filosofía hablamos de otros temas de la vida real, del matrimonio y del divorcio”?

Yes, that word order is also correct:

En el curso de filosofía hablamos de otros temas de la vida real, del matrimonio y del divorcio.

Spanish is quite flexible with the order of items in a list. Changing the order changes the emphasis a bit:

Original:
- …del matrimonio, del divorcio y de otros temas de la vida real.
  → First highlight marriage and divorce, then mention other real-life topics.
Reordered:
- …de otros temas de la vida real, del matrimonio y del divorcio.
  → First say “other real-life topics” in general, then give two specific examples (marriage and divorce).

Both are grammatically fine.

Is there anything specifically “Spain Spanish” about this sentence?

Nothing in the sentence is exclusive to Spain; it works in all varieties of Spanish.

What might vary slightly by region is:

Pronunciation of c in divorcio, curso (in Spain, often th sound: di*vor-thio, kur-tho*; in Latin America, s sound: di*vor-sio, kur-so*).
Vocabulary alternatives in different countries (for example, some regions might prefer asignatura de filosofía instead of curso de filosofía for “philosophy class/subject”).

But grammatically and lexically, the sentence is standard and widely understood across the Spanish-speaking world.