Après le boulot, j’ai souvent soif et je bois de l’eau fraîche.

After work, I am often thirsty and I drink cold water.

Breakdown of Après le boulot, j’ai souvent soif et je bois de l’eau fraîche.

• je: I
• l'eau: the water
• avoir: to have
• et: and
• boire: to drink
• souvent: often
• de l': some
• après: after
• frais: fresh
• le boulot: the work
• la soif: the thirst

Questions & Answers about Après le boulot, j’ai souvent soif et je bois de l’eau fraîche.

Why is the word boulot used instead of travail?

• Boulot is an informal/slang term meaning “work” or “job.”
• Travail is the standard, more formal word.
• A native speaker might choose boulot in casual conversation.

Why is there le before boulot? Could we say après boulot or après un boulot?

• French generally requires an article before a countable noun.
• Après le boulot means “after work” in a general, habitual sense, just like English “after work.”
• Après un boulot would mean “after a (specific) job,” which changes the meaning.

Why is après not followed by de?

• The preposition après directly takes the article + noun (no de) when expressing time or sequence.
• You say après le déjeuner, après la pause, etc., not après de….

Why do we write j’ai with an apostrophe?

• Je
  • ai elide to j’ before a vowel (to ease pronunciation).
• This elision is mandatory: you must drop the e in je and write j’.

Why is j’ai soif used instead of je suis soif?

• In French, physical states like thirst and hunger use avoir (“to have”), not être (“to be”).
• So you say j’ai soif (literally “I have thirst”) and j’ai faim (“I have hunger”).

Why is souvent placed between ai and soif? Could it go elsewhere?

• Adverbs of frequency (often, always, never) normally come right after the conjugated verb in simple tenses: j’ai souvent.
• You could move it for emphasis: Souvent, après le boulot… or Après le boulot, j’ai soif souvent, but the first position is most natural.

Why do we say de l’eau fraîche and not de la eau fraîche or simply l’eau fraîche?

• Eau is a feminine noun beginning with a vowel, so de la becomes de l’ by elision: de l’eau.
• We use the partitive article (de l’) to indicate an unspecified quantity of a non-count noun (“some water”).
• Saying l’eau fraîche would refer to a specific water (e.g. “the fresh water”), not just “some fresh water.”

What is the partitive article in French, and when should I use it?

• The partitive articles are du (m. sing.), de la (f. sing.), de l’ (before a vowel), and des (pl.).
• Use them to express “some” or an indefinite amount of something uncountable or not fully specified (food, drink, abstract concepts).
• Example: Je bois du café, Elle mange de la viande, On achètera des pommes.

Why is fraîche spelled with an -e at the end?

• Eau is feminine, so any adjective modifying it must agree in gender and number.
• The masculine frais becomes the feminine fraîche (adding -e).