Je le porte souvent au travail.

I wear it often at work.

Breakdown of Je le porte souvent au travail.

• je: I
• souvent: often
• le travail: the work
• porter: to wear
• au: to the
• le: it

Questions & Answers about Je le porte souvent au travail.

What does le represent in Je le porte souvent au travail?

Le is a masculine singular direct-object pronoun replacing a masculine noun mentioned earlier (for example le chapeau, le pull, le costume, etc.). It translates as “it” in English when referring to that masculine item.

Why is le placed before porte instead of after the verb like in English (“wear it”)?

In French, direct-object pronouns (le, la, les…) always come immediately before the conjugated verb in simple tenses. So you say Je le porte (literally “I it wear”) rather than Je porte le.

Why is au travail used instead of à le travail?

French contracts à + le into au before a masculine singular noun. Thus à le travail becomes au travail.

Why is the adverb souvent placed between porte and au travail?

In simple tenses (present, future, imperfect), common adverbs of frequency like souvent usually follow the conjugated verb (and its pronoun). The typical order here is: subject – pronoun – verb – adverb – complement.

Could you use mettre instead of porter to translate “wear”?

They serve different purposes. Mettre means “to put on” (the act of dressing yourself), while porter means “to wear” (the state of having clothes on). So use Je porte for “I wear it” and Je mets for “I put it on.”

Can you drop le and say Je porte souvent au travail?

No. Without le, the sentence has no object. You’d have to supply the noun itself, for example Je porte souvent ce pull au travail, or keep the pronoun: Je le porte souvent au travail.

If the item referred to were feminine, how would the sentence change?

You’d replace le with the feminine pronoun la:
Je la porte souvent au travail.
(“I often wear it to work,” referring to a feminine item.)