Basic routines and family | Learn French in English

Sentence explanations

1. Je vais me coucher.

   I am going to bed.

   Je vais

   I am going

   me coucher

   go to bed

   More detail

   Je vais contains je, “I,” and vais, the first-person singular present form of aller (“to go”). When aller is followed by an infinitive, je vais + infinitive forms the French near-future construction, often translated as “I am going to …” or “I am about to …”. Example: Je vais manger. — “I am going to eat.” me coucher is the reflexive infinitive phrase from se coucher, meaning “to go to bed” or “to lie down.” me is the first-person singular reflexive pronoun, matching the subject je; coucher is the infinitive and does not carry the subject’s person or number here. In a reflexive verb construction, the reflexive pronoun changes with the subject: je me couche — “I go to bed,” but il se couche — “he goes to bed.” Together, Je vais + me coucher gives the reusable pattern subject + aller + reflexive infinitive: “I am going to bed.” The whole utterance expresses the speaker’s upcoming action or intention.

2. Je me réveille tôt.

   I wake up early.

   Je

   I

   me réveille

   wake up

   tôt

   early

   More detail

   Je is the first-person singular subject pronoun: “I.” It identifies the speaker as the person doing the action. French subject pronouns normally appear before the conjugated verb: Je travaille. — “I work.” me réveille expresses “wake up” here. The base verb is se réveiller, a reflexive verb. In the present tense with je, se becomes me, and the verb is conjugated as réveille: je me réveille. The reflexive pronoun shows that the person waking is the same person as the subject. Compare Je me réveille. — “I wake up” with Je réveille Paul. — “I wake Paul,” where Paul is a different person. The form réveille is the present-tense form used with je; the infinitive is réveiller, while the reflexive infinitive is se réveiller. Tôt means “early” and describes the time of waking. It is an adverb, so it does not change for gender or number. For example, Elle se réveille tôt. means “She wakes up early.” Its opposite is tard, “late.” Together, Je + me réveille + tôt form Je me réveille tôt.: “I wake up early.” The subject is the speaker, me réveille states that the speaker wakes up, and tôt specifies that this happens early. The present tense presents this as a current or habitual statement; the exact frequency is not specified.

3. Je vais au travail.

   I go to work.

   Je

   I

   vais

   go

   au travail

   to work

   travail

   work

   More detail

   Je means “I” here. It is the first-person singular subject pronoun, used when the speaker refers to themself. For example, Je lis. means “I read.” vais is the first-person singular present form of aller, “to go”: je vais, tu vas, il/elle va. The form vais is therefore not the base form; it agrees with je. In this sentence, the present form expresses the speaker’s going to work. Example: Je vais à l'école. means “I go to school.” au travail means “to work.” au is the contraction of à + le; it does not itself state a numerical quantity. The pattern aller au + masculine singular noun can describe going to a place or activity, as in Je vais au marché.—“I go to the market.” travail is a masculine singular noun meaning “work” in this use. Its plural is travaux in meanings such as “works” or “construction works,” while “jobs” can be emplois in a different sense. Here, travail refers to the work destination or workplace activity, not to a person. Together, Je vais au travail combines the subject je, the present form vais of aller, and the destination expression au travail: “I go to work.”

4. Je vais à l'école.

   I go to school.

   vais

   go

   à

   to

   l'école

   school

   More detail

   vais is the first-person singular present form of aller, “to go.” With je, use je vais; for comparison, tu vas means “you go,” while il/elle va means “he/she goes.” Here, vais expresses the speaker’s going. à marks the destination: it corresponds to “to” in this sentence. A reusable pattern is aller à + destination, as in Je vais à Paris. — “I’m going to Paris.” l'école means “school.” It consists of the definite article l' and the noun école; l' is the elided form used before the vowel sound at the beginning of école. The noun is feminine, but that gender is not visible in this contracted article. For contrast, à la maison means “to the house/home,” where the feminine article is not elided because maison begins with a consonant sound. Together, Je vais (“I go”) + à l'école (“to school”) gives the complete meaning: “I go to school.”

5. Je suis avec ma famille.

   I am with my family.

   Je suis

   I am

   avec

   with

   ma

   my

   famille

   family

   More detail

   Je suis means “I am” here. suis is the first-person singular present form of être (“to be”): je suis = “I am.” For example, Je suis à la maison. means “I am at home.” avec means “with” and introduces the person or thing accompanying someone. It is a preposition and does not change form. For example, Je travaille avec mon frère. means “I work with my brother.” ma means “my” before a singular feminine noun. It is a possessive determiner, and its form agrees with the noun possessed, not with the possessor. Compare ma famille (“my family”) with mon ami (“my friend”), where mon is used before the singular masculine noun ami. famille means “family.” It is a feminine singular noun: une famille means “a family,” while des familles means “families.” Together, Je suis + avec + ma famille gives “I am with my family.” The sentence states the speaker’s presence together with their family; avec links the speaker to the accompanying group.

6. C'est mon ami.

   This is my friend.

   C'est

   This is

   mon

   my

   ami

   friend

   More detail

   C'est is the contraction of ce and est (être, “to be”). Here ce is a demonstrative pronoun meaning “this,” and est is the third-person singular present form of être. The contraction is standard before a vowel sound: C'est un livre. = “This is a book.” mon is a possessive determiner meaning “my.” It agrees with the possessed noun, not with the owner. In this sentence it is masculine singular because ami is masculine singular. Before a feminine singular noun beginning with a vowel sound, French also uses mon: mon amie = “my female friend.” With a feminine singular noun beginning with a consonant sound, use ma, as in ma famille = “my family.” ami is the masculine singular noun “friend.” Its feminine counterpart is amie, “female friend.” The plural forms are amis and amies; final s is generally not pronounced in these forms. Together, C'est identifies something or someone as “this,” and mon ami names that person as the speaker’s friend. The complete utterance is therefore “This is my friend.”