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Ce soir, ils vont au stade.

Ce soir, ils vont au stade.
Tonight, they are going to the stadium.
From Lesson 31:The verb to go (aller)·French

Questions & Answers about Ce soir, ils vont au stade.

Why is the verb vont here, and what verb does it come from?
Vont is the present tense 'they' form of the verb aller (to go). Even though aller ends in -er, it is highly irregular and does not follow normal verb rules. When using ils (they, masculine or mixed groups) or elles (they, feminine), the correct form is always vont.
Why does the sentence use au stade instead of à le stade?
In French, you cannot ever say à le. When the preposition à (to or at) meets the masculine word le (the), they contract and become the single word au. Because stade (stadium) is a masculine noun, 'to the stadium' must be written as au stade.
How does Ce soir translate to 'tonight'?
Literally, ce soir translates to 'this evening' (ce means 'this' and soir means 'evening'). French does not have a single dedicated word for 'tonight' like English does, so ce soir is the standard way to express both 'this evening' and 'tonight'.
The translation says 'they are going', but isn't vont just the simple present tense?
Yes! French only has one present tense. The French phrase ils vont translates to both 'they go' (as a general habit) and 'they are going' (happening right now or in the near future). Because the sentence gives us the context of Ce soir (Tonight), we know it translates best as 'they are going'.

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