Questions & Answers about Mon frère joue au tennis au gymnase.
Why does the sentence use au instead of just à?
In French, when the preposition à (at/to) is followed by the masculine word le (the), they must combine to form au. Because both tennis and gymnase are masculine nouns, we use au before them. You will never see à le written or spoken in French! In English we just say "plays tennis", so why is there an au before tennis?
When talking about playing a sport or a game, the French verb jouer (to play) must always be followed by the preposition à. Since tennis is a masculine word (le tennis), the à and le combine to make au. French literally says that someone "plays at the tennis"! Does gymnase mean a fitness gym with weights and treadmills?
Usually, no! A gymnase is an indoor sports hall or court, like a school gymnasium where you play basketball or indoor tennis. If you want to talk about a fitness center for working out, you would say la salle de sport. Why is the verb joue spelled without an "s" at the end?
Joue is the "he, she, or it" form of the regular verb jouer. Because the subject is mon frère (my brother, which equals "he"), the correct ending is just -e. The -es ending (joues) is only used when talking directly to someone using tu (you). Learn Mon frère joue au tennis au gymnase and more in French
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