Learn French: Mon fils va au collège. - My son goes to middle school.

Mon fils va au collège.

My son goes to middle school.

Breakdown of Mon fils va au collège.

to the / at the (masculine singular)

Questions & Answers about Mon fils va au collège.

Why do we use au instead of à here?

The word collège is masculine (le collège). When you want to say "to the" and combine à (to) with le (the), they combine to form the new word au. You can never say à le in French.

Does collège mean "college" like a university?

No, collège is a false friend! In French, it means "middle school" (for kids around 11 to 14 years old). To talk about a university, you would use l'université.

Why does fils have an "s" at the end if it is just one son?

The word fils is simply spelled with an "s" in the singular. You can tell it means exactly one son here because it uses the singular word for my, mon, rather than the plural mes.

What verb is va?

It comes from the irregular verb aller (to go). Va is the form you use for he, she, or it.