The French verbs parler à ou parler de can both be translated as “to speak” in English, but they are used in different contexts and have distinct meanings. You can download a PDF of this lesson guide in my private French Grammar Library.
Parler à / au / aux / à l’ + PERSON:
This construction is used to express “talking / speaking to” someone. When the verb parler is followed by À + a person or people, you can use the indirect object pronouns LUI or LEUR to replace those people.
The pronoun LUI means “him / her”, and the pronoun LEUR means “them”. The indirect object pronouns LUI and LEUR are only used for people and animals.
| French | English |
| Elle parle à sa meilleure amie. Elle lui parle. | She is talking to her best friend. She is talking to her. |
| Nous parlons à nos amis. Nous leur parlons. | We are talking to our friends. We are talking to them. |
Parler de / du / de la / des / de l’
+ Place, Thing:
This construction is used to express “talking / speaking about” a place or a thing.
When the verb parler is followed by DE + a place or a thing, you can use the adverbial pronoun EN to replace those places or things.
In this case, the pronoun EN means “about them / it”, “about a place”, or “about a thing”.
The adverbial pronoun EN is used to replace a noun that follows du, de la, de l’, des or a quantity.
| French | English |
| Je parle de mon ancien appartement. J’en parle. | I am talking about my former apartment. I am talking about it. |
| Vous parliez des devoirs de maths? Vous en parliez? | Were you talking about the math homework? Were you talking about it? |
| Ils parlent de leurs résultats. Ils en parlent. | They are talking about their results. They are talking about them. |
