Breakdown of Au lieu de consommer de l'essence, je prends la piste cyclable.
je
I
de
of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)
prendre
to have (a meal/drink) / to take
la piste
the slope / the track
au lieu de
instead of
consommer
to consume
l'essence
the gasoline (f)
cyclable
cyclable
Questions & Answers about Au lieu de consommer de l'essence, je prends la piste cyclable.
Why is it consommer (to consume) here when the English translation says "consuming"?
In French, when a verb follows a preposition like de (as in the phrase au lieu de), it must be in the infinitive form. While English uses the "-ing" form after prepositions ("instead of consuming"), French always uses the unbroken infinitive consommer.
Why do we need de l' before essence?
Essence (gasoline) is an uncountable noun. When talking about an undefined quantity of an uncountable thing, French uses a partitive article (like saying "some gas" in English). Because essence starts with a vowel, the partitive article is de l'.
Literally, what does piste cyclable mean?
Could I say au lieu que je consomme instead?
No, and that is a great rule to remember! When the same subject (je) is doing both actions, you must use au lieu de + infinitive. You would only use au lieu que (followed by the subjunctive) if a completely different person were doing the first action.
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