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Ils font des courses en ville.

Ils font des courses en ville.
They are running errands in town.
From Lesson 38:The verb to do/make (faire)·French

Questions & Answers about Ils font des courses en ville.

Doesn't faire usually mean "to do" or "to make"? Why is it translated as "running" here?
You're right! Faire means "to do" or "to make". However, French uses it in many set phrases where English uses different verbs. The expression faire des courses translates literally to "doing some errands" or "doing shopping", but in natural English, we say "running errands".
Why is the verb spelled font?
Font is the "they" (third-person plural) form of the irregular verb faire in the present tense. Because faire is highly irregular, its conjugations don't follow the normal verb rules, so you simply have to memorize that ils font means "they do" or "they make".
Why is there a des before courses? The English translation doesn't say "some errands".
In English, we can just say "running errands" without any article. But in French, nouns almost always need an article, even in the plural. Des is the plural indefinite article, acting like the word "some". You can't leave it out in French!
Why do we use en ville instead of dans la ville for "in town"?
En ville is a fixed expression that means "in town" or "to town". When talking about a town as a general concept or location (just like we say "going to town" in English), French uses en and drops the word for "the" (la).
Are the last letters of Ils and font pronounced?
No, both are silent! The "s" in Ils is silent because the next word (font) starts with a consonant. The "t" in font is a typical silent final consonant. If you were speaking, you would pronounce this combination simply as "eel fon".

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