Au bout de la rue, Paul tourne à gauche.

Au bout de is a very common expression meaning at the end of.

So au bout de la rue means at the end of the street.

A useful thing to remember is that au bout de is a fixed expression. French learners often try to understand it word by word, but it is best learned as one chunk:

• au bout de la rue = at the end of the street
• au bout du couloir = at the end of the hallway
• au bout de cinq minutes = after five minutes / at the end of five minutes

In this sentence, it gives the location where the turning happens.

Because in French, à + le contracts to au.

So:

• à le bout becomes au bout

This is a standard contraction:

• à + le = au
• à + les = aux
• de + le = du
• de + les = des

You usually cannot keep à le as two separate words in normal French.

Because bout needs de to link it to the thing whose end you mean.

So French says:

• le bout de la rue = the end of the street
• le bout du film = the end of the movie
• le bout du monde = the end of the world

That is why the full expression is au bout de la rue, not au bout la rue.

The comma separates the introductory location phrase from the main clause.

So the sentence is structured like this:

• Au bout de la rue, = location/setup
• Paul tourne à gauche. = main action

In English, we often do the same thing:

• At the end of the street, Paul turns left.

The comma is helpful, but in some short French sentences punctuation can vary a little. Still, with an opening phrase like this, the comma is very natural.

Because French can start a sentence with a place expression to set the scene first.

Both of these are possible:

• Au bout de la rue, Paul tourne à gauche.
• Paul tourne à gauche au bout de la rue.

The difference is mainly one of emphasis and flow:

• Au bout de la rue, ... emphasizes the location first
• Paul tourne à gauche ... emphasizes Paul first

So the original sentence is perfectly natural; it just starts with the setting.

French often uses the present tense for:

• describing what someone does
• giving directions
• narrating a sequence of actions

So Paul tourne à gauche can mean:

• Paul turns left
• Paul is turning left
• in a directions-style context, Paul turns left at that point

This is normal French usage. The present tense is very flexible, just as in English.

À gauche is the normal fixed expression for to the left or left.

Similarly:

• à droite = to the right / right
• tout droit = straight ahead

So after tourner, French normally says:

• tourner à gauche
• tourner à droite

Vers la gauche is not the usual expression here. It sounds less natural for ordinary directions.

Because tourner à gauche is the standard way to say turn left when talking about movement or directions.

• tourner à gauche = to turn left
• tourner à droite = to turn right

Se tourner usually means to turn oneself / to turn around / to turn toward something:

• Il se tourne vers moi. = He turns toward me.
• Elle s’est tournée pour regarder. = She turned around to look.

So in a directions context, tourner à gauche is the right choice.

Yes, absolutely.

That version is also correct:

• Paul tourne à gauche au bout de la rue.

The meaning is basically the same. The main difference is emphasis:

• Au bout de la rue, Paul tourne à gauche. = starts with the location
• Paul tourne à gauche au bout de la rue. = starts with the subject and action

French allows this flexibility, especially with adverbial phrases of place like au bout de la rue.

Yes, rue is feminine.

You can tell because the sentence has:

• de la rue

The article la shows that rue is feminine singular.

So:

• la rue = the street
• une rue = a street

This matters because adjectives, articles, and some other words must agree with the noun’s gender.

A careful pronunciation would be approximately:

oh boo duh la rü, Pol toorn ah gosh

A more IPA-style version is:

[o bu də la ʁy, pɔl tuʁn a ɡoʃ]

A few pronunciation points:

• au sounds like o
• bout sounds like boo
• rue has the French u sound, which is different from English oo
• r in rue and tourne is the French r
• gauche rhymes roughly with English gosh, but the vowel is not exactly the same

In natural speech, de in de la may be reduced or spoken very lightly.

Usually, yes: it means at the end of the street.

In context, that often means:

• when you reach the end of the street
• at the far end of the street
• where the street ends

Like many location expressions, the exact nuance depends on context, but the basic idea is the physical end point of the street.

Yes. Tourner à gauche can work for all of those if the context is clear.

It can describe:

• a person walking
• someone driving
• someone cycling
• movement in directions more generally

French does not need a separate verb here. Tourner à gauche is broad and natural in all those situations.