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Je vais à la poste.

Je vais à la poste.
I am going to the post office.
From Lesson 32:The preposition to/at (à, au, aux)·French

Questions & Answers about Je vais à la poste.

Why is it à la here instead of shrinking into au?
The current lesson teaches that à and le squeeze together into au. However, à and the feminine article la never contract! Because poste (post office) is a feminine word, it stays as two separate words: à la.
Why is the translation 'I am going' instead of just 'I go'?
French doesn't have a separate tense for things happening right now like English does with its '-ing' verbs. The single phrase je vais means both 'I go' and 'I am going'. We just pick the English translation that makes the most sense for the situation.
Does the accent on à change its pronunciation?
Not at all! It sounds exactly the same as a without an accent. The little mark is just a visual clue in writing so you can tell the preposition à (to/at) apart from the verb a (has, as in il a).
Could I say au poste if I was talking about a different kind of post?
Yes, but it completely changes the meaning! Noun gender matters here. La poste (feminine) means the post office or the mail. Le poste (masculine) means a job position or a station, like a police station (au poste de police). Using à la makes sure you end up at the post office.

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