Learn French: Je vais souvent aux concerts avec mon ami. - I often go to the concerts with my friend.

Je vais souvent aux concerts avec mon ami.

I often go to the concerts with my friend.

Breakdown of Je vais souvent aux concerts avec mon ami.

Questions & Answers about Je vais souvent aux concerts avec mon ami.

Why do we use aux here instead of à les?

In French, the preposition à (to/at) and the plural article les (the) can never stand next to each other. They always merge into the contraction aux. Therefore, "to the concerts" becomes aux concerts.

Why does souvent (often) come after the verb, instead of before it like in English?

In French, adverbs like souvent cannot separate the subject (Je) and the verb (vais). Instead, short adverbs usually go directly after the conjugated verb.

Where does the word vais come from?

It is the first-person form of the irregular verb aller (to go). Je vais translates to "I go" or "I am going".

If this were a female friend, would it be ma amie?

No! While you normally use ma for feminine words, you must use mon if the feminine word starts with a vowel sound, just to make pronunciation smoother. So "my female friend" is mon amie (with an 'e' at the end). Our sentence uses mon ami without an 'e', meaning this friend is male.