Learn French: Je fais les courses au marché. - I do the shopping at the market.

Je fais les courses au marché.

I do the shopping at the market.

Breakdown of Je fais les courses au marché.

to the / at the (masculine singular)

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Questions & Answers about Je fais les courses au marché.

Why is the verb "to do" written as fais here?

Faire (to do/make) is a very common but irregular verb. In the present tense, for both je (I) and tu (you, singular informal), it is conjugated as fais. You just have to memorize it!

Wait, doesn't les courses literally mean "the races"?

Yes, it can! However, the fixed phrase faire les courses specifically means "to do the grocery shopping" or "to run errands". If you are talking about shopping for clothes or fun items, the French actually use the English word: faire du shopping.

Why does the sentence use au before marché?

In French, when the preposition à (at/to) meets the masculine article le (the), they are forced to combine into au. Because market is masculine (le marché), "at the market" becomes au marché. You will never see à le written side-by-side.

Is the "s" at the end of fais pronounced?

No, the final "s" is silent, which is a very common rule for French word endings. Fais sounds very similar to the English word "fay".