Question 1

How is the near future tense formed in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

This sentence uses the near future tense (le futur proche). You form it by taking the present tense of aller (to go) and adding an infinitive verb (the basic, unconjugated form). Here, tu vas is "you are going" and passer is the infinitive "to spend". Together, tu vas passer means "you are going to spend".

Question 2

I thought passer meant "to pass". Why does it mean "to spend" here?

Accepted Answer

In French, when you talk about spending time (like a weekend, a holiday, or an hour), you use the verb passer (literally "to pass"). If you were talking about spending money, you would use a completely different verb: dépenser.

Question 3

Is week-end really a French word?

Accepted Answer

Yes! French has borrowed several words from English, and le week-end is completely standard in everyday spoken French. When French borrows an English noun, it almost always makes it masculine, which is why it uses le.

Question 4

Does nous mean both "we" and "us"?

Accepted Answer

Exactly! You already know nous as the subject "we" (as in nous allons). However, it is also the word used for "us" when it comes right after prepositions like avec (with), pour (for), or sans (without). So, avec nous translates perfectly to "with us".

Tu vas passer le week-end avec nous.

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