Learn French: Je fais une pause quand je prends le tramway.

In French, you don't "take" a break; you "make" or "do" a pause. The set phrase is faire une pause. If you say je prends une pause, it sounds unnatural to a French speaker, even though prendre is the literal verb for "to take".

Why is there an "s" at the end of "prends"?

Prendre (to take) is an irregular verb. In the present tense for je (I) and tu (you, singular informal), it is spelled prends. The d and the s at the end are both silent, so je prends simply sounds like "zhuh prahn".

Is it normal to use "prendre" for transportation like "le tramway"?

Yes! Just like in English, you use prendre for catching a ride. You will use this verb all the time with phrases like prendre le bus (take the bus), prendre le métro (take the subway), or prendre le train (take the train).

Can I just say "tram" instead of "tramway"?

Absolutely. In everyday spoken French, people almost always shorten it to le tram. Just remember to give it a French accent: the "a" is pronounced like the "ah" in "father", not the flat "a" we use in the English word.