"Il parle, merci !"

[Sitesurf]

No, he is not saying thank you.
The verb 'parler' is not transitive.
Translation is 'he is talking, thank you'.

[nmouktabis]

This does not translate to "He says, thank you!" that would have been "Il dit, merci!"

[Gonxa]

Yeah, I thought he was saying to someone else to shut it because another person was speaking lol

[Sitesurf]

You're right: this is the perfect situation to say this sentence.

[Riana]

That's what I thought, too. lol

[sarakadara]

I agree, I don't think this is correct. I think it should be "Il dit". You do not say "He speaks, thank you".

[bdflynn]

Parler can be transitive and intransitive. In the transitive case you are discussing one's ability to "speak" or a subject of which you are speaking.

"Elle parle très bien (le) français." - is a transitive sentence.

I don't think this lesson applies though. I would agree with "Il dit, merci !"

[Sitesurf]

Agreed on the dual transitive/intransitive possibilities of verb " parler". However, here, with the comma after "il parle", the person saying "merci" is not the one who speaks.
if you want to mean "he says thank you", you don't use a comma and you say "il dit merci" or "il dit : merci". And the verb is "dire", not "parler".

[monicamary89]

Yes, parle means speaks!

[therealdrag0]

I got marked off for putting "merci" in quotes. That seems silly.

[twhelan]

I usually see French dialoguein <<>>, not that I think it would mark differently.

[gabewithafender]

That would only make sense if it translated as <he says "thank you">, i.e., if the speaker was reporting what someone else was saying, but it translates as <he is speaking, thank you>.