Question 1

Why do we use prendre with public transport like métro?

Accepted Answer

In French, prendre literally means “to take” and is the standard verb for boarding or catching a vehicle (bus, train, métro, etc.). So prendre le métro corresponds directly to English “to take the subway.” You wouldn’t say aller le métro, for example, because prendre expresses the action of getting on board.

Question 2

What’s the difference between prendre le métro and aller en métro?

Accepted Answer

Both are correct, but they emphasize slightly different things:
- prendre le métro (take the subway) focuses on the act of boarding or catching it.  
- aller en métro (go by subway) highlights your mode of travel.  
Use prendre when you talk about the action of getting on. Use aller en when you simply describe how you travel.

Question 3

Why is there an article le before métro? Can’t I just say Je prends métro?

Accepted Answer

French generally requires a definite article (le, la, les) before singular and plural nouns when speaking in general terms.  
- Je prends le métro means “I take the subway” in general.  
If you want to stress one specific train, you could say Je prends un métro (“I catch a subway train”). But Je prends métro without an article is ungrammatical.

Question 4

What does tous les jours mean, and why is it spelled that way?

Accepted Answer

Tous les jours literally means “all the days,” i.e. every day.  
- Tous has an -s because it agrees in gender (masculine) and number (plural) with jours.  
You could also say chaque jour for “each day,” but tous les jours is the most common everyday expression.

Question 5

Why is pour aller used here? What does pour do?

Accepted Answer

Pour + infinitive (here aller) expresses purpose or intention, equivalent to English “in order to.”  
- Je prends le métro pour aller au boulot  
  = “I take the subway in order to go to work” (i.e. that’s the reason I take it).

Question 6

What does boulot mean? Is it formal?

Accepted Answer

Boulot is informal slang for travail or job.  
- In casual conversation, you’ll hear boulot a lot: “J’arrive au boulot,” “Je cherche du boulot,” etc.  
- In a formal context, use travail (work) or emploi (employment/job).

Question 7

Why do we say au boulot and not à le boulot?

Accepted Answer

In French, à + le always contracts to au before a masculine singular noun.  
- le boulot is masculine, so à le boulot becomes au boulot.

Question 8

Could I say Je vais au boulot en métro tous les jours instead?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Je vais au boulot en métro tous les jours is perfectly natural and means the same thing.  
- Je prends le métro emphasizes the act of boarding the métro.  
- Je vais en métro emphasizes the mode of transport. Both convey that you commute by subway every day.

Question 9

What tense and person is prends in Je prends?

Accepted Answer

Prends is the first-person singular (je) in the present indicative of the irregular verb prendre:  
je prends, tu prends, il/elle prend, nous prenons, vous prenez, ils/elles prennent.

Je prends le métro tous les jours pour aller au boulot.

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