Question 1

How does au lieu de work in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Au lieu de means "instead of". In French, when a preposition like de is followed by an action, the verb must be in its infinitive (dictionary) form. While English uses the -ing form ("instead of commuting"), French uses the infinitive, which here is se déplacer.

Question 2

If the verb is in the infinitive, why is there a second nous right before déplacer?

Accepted Answer

The verb for "to get around" is the reflexive verb se déplacer. A very important rule in French is that even when a reflexive verb is in the infinitive, its reflexive pronoun must still match the person doing the action. Since the subject of the sentence is Nous, the pronoun changes to match it, becoming au lieu de nous déplacer.

Question 3

Why say faisons du télétravail instead of just using a single verb?

Accepted Answer

While the single verb télétravailler does exist, French heavily relies on the structure faire de + noun to describe activities. Saying faire du télétravail (literally "to do telework") is the most common and natural way to talk about working from home.

Question 4

Does se déplacer always mean "to commute"?

Accepted Answer

Not exclusively. Se déplacer literally means "to move oneself" and is used broadly for "to get around" or "to travel from place to place". However, in a work context like this one, it is the standard and most natural way to express the idea of "commuting" to an office.

Nous faisons du télétravail au lieu de nous déplacer.

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