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.
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’
+ PERSON, PLACE, THING:
This construction is used to express “talking / speaking about” a person, place, or a thing.
When the verb parler is followed by DE + a person, place, or a thing, you can use the adverbial pronoun EN to replace those people, places, or things.
In this case, the pronoun EN means “about him / her / them”, “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 du propriétaire. J’en parle. | I am talking about the owner. I am talking about him / her. |
| 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. |
