Three Step French - Learn #17 - Talking About Transportation in French - Grammar
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Let's look at the sentence pattern. This pattern is the structure that all of our examples will follow. Subject + Verb + A + Place + Means Subject + Verb + To or At or In + Place + Means

This pattern helps us talk about where someone is going and how they are getting there. Let's look at the subject and verb first. The subject tells us who is doing the action, and the verb is usually something like "aller" meaning "to go". The verb is often followed by "à", which links it to a place.

Après ça, il y a le lieu qui nous dit où l'on va. Ça peut être une ville, un bâtiment, une boutique ou un lieu spécifique. En français, "qu'en" peut signifier "à", "à l'intérieur" ou "à l'intérieur", selon le verbe qu'il suit. Son sens ne change pas exactement. Il s'adapte simplement au contexte du verbe.

In French, the way you express how you travel depends on whether you're inside the vehicle or on top of it. For transport, you ride in, for example a car or a bus, use EN. For transport, you ride in, for example a car or a bus, use EN. For transport, you're on, like walking or biking, use A.

So you say "en voiture" "by car" and "en bus" "by bus". But "à pied" "on foot" and "à vélo" "by bike". Let's see how a line from the dialogue follows this pattern. Je vais à la comtesse à pied. "I'm going to la comtesse on foot." In this sentence, "je" is the subject, meaning "I".

"Vez" is the verb conjugated from "aller" which means "to go". It's used here as "je vais" meaning "I'm going". It's the preposition connecting the verb to the place or destination meaning "to". "La comtesse" is the place being referred to.

It's the name of a location, likely a café or restaurant or meeting spot. And together, je vais à la comtesse follows the pattern verb + à + place. And it means "I'm going to la comtesse." Then we see à pied, which means "on foot." This tells us the means, how the person is going.

In this case, on foot. So the sentence Je vais à la comtesse à pied fits the patterns subject + verbe + à + place + means. I'm going to la comtesse on foot. Now you can use this structure to talk about where you're going and how you're getting there in French.

En français, "à" signifie "à", "à", ou "à", ou "à". Parfois, ça change selon le mot qui vient après. Quand "à" est suivi par "le", le mot masculin pour "de", ils se combinent pour faire "au". Donc avec "le travail", "le travail", on dit "au travail", "à travailler". Si "à" est suivi par

"La" : le mot féminin pour "de". Par exemple, "la bibliothèque", "the library", il n'y a pas de changement. Il reste "à la". "To the library" est "à la bibliothèque". Si le mot commence avec un vol ou un silent H, par exemple "l'école", "the school", nous utilisons "à" pour les nouns masculins et féminins. "To school" est "à l'école".

And when "à" is followed by "les", the plural word for "de", for example "les magasins", the shops, it becomes "aux", "to the shops" is "aux magasins" in French. These contractions are required and make the sentence sound natural. Now let's look at some speaking examples. Je vais à la bibliothèque en bus.

"I go to the library by bus." Can you see how the pattern applies here? Let's break it down. Here, "je" is the subject, meaning "I". "Vais" is conjugated from the verb "aller", meaning "to go". It's the first person singular form used here as "je vais", meaning "I'm going". Next is "à la bibliothèque".

qui est la préposition plus le lieu. La préposition "à" signifie "to" et "la bibliothèque" signifie "la bibliothèque". Ensemble, cette partie nous dit où se trouve l'action, la destination. Ensuite, nous avons "en bus" qui nous dit comment la personne va, le moyen de transport, par bus.

"En" is used because a bus is something you travel in. So that's how "Je vais à la bibliothèque en bus" fits the pattern "subject + verbe + à + place + means". Here's another example : Je vais à l'école à pied. "I go to school on foot."

Here you can see "à" accompanied by "l" because "école" starts with a vowel. Let's try one more. Je vais au travail en métro. "I go to work by metro." Here you can see the contraction "au" which comes from "à" plus "le". This happens because "travail"

is a masculine singular noun that starts with a consonant. In French, "à" contracts with "le" to form "au". Another one, Je vais au supermarché en voiture. "I go to the supermarket by car." Here, "supermarché"

est un nom masculin singulaire qui commence avec une consonante. Donc on utilise "au". Un dernier exemple : Je vais au magasin en taxi. "I go to the shops by taxi." Ici, vous pouvez voir "à" accompagné par "les" qui devient "au" parce que "magasin" est un nom plural.

En français, quand "à" est suivi d'un nom pluriel, il se contracte avec "les", la forme plurielle de "de". "To form o". Cette contraction est nécessaire et rend la phrase sonne naturelle.