Le bus est en avance aujourd'hui.

The bus is early today.

Breakdown of Le bus est en avance aujourd'hui.

• être: to be
• le bus: the bus
• aujourd'hui: today
• en avance: early

Questions & Answers about Le bus est en avance aujourd'hui.

Why is it le bus and not un bus or l’autobus?

• le bus uses the definite article because you mean a specific, known bus (the one on your route or schedule). French uses definite articles a lot for known or contextually obvious things.
• un bus would mean some unspecified bus.
• autobus starts with a vowel sound, so you would write l’autobus, not le autobus. In everyday French, le bus is more common than l’autobus.

Can I say Le bus est tôt aujourd’hui?

No. tôt means early in the day or at an early hour. To say something is early relative to a schedule or expected time, use en avance. For example:

• I woke up early: Je me suis levé tôt.
• The train is early: Le train est en avance.

What’s the difference between en avance, à l’avance, tôt, de bonne heure, en retard, and à l’heure?

• en avance: earlier than expected/scheduled. Le bus est en avance.
• à l’avance: beforehand/in advance (you do something early). J’ai acheté mes billets à l’avance.
• tôt: early in the day or clock time. Je pars tôt demain.
• de bonne heure: early in the day (often a bit earlier or more old-fashioned than tôt). Je me suis levé de bonne heure.
• en retard: late (relative to schedule). Le bus est en retard.
• à l’heure: on time. Le bus est à l’heure.

Does en avance change for gender or number?

No. en avance is a fixed adverbial phrase and is invariable:

• La navette est en avance.
• Les bus sont en avance.

Could I say Le bus arrive en avance instead of Le bus est en avance?

Yes, both are correct but the nuance differs:

• est en avance describes the bus’s status relative to the schedule (general statement).
• arrive en avance focuses on the arrival event being earlier than planned (often used when the bus actually arrives).

How do I make it negative or ask a yes–no question?

• Negative: Le bus n’est pas en avance aujourd’hui.
• Inversion question: Le bus est-il en avance aujourd’hui ?
• Est-ce que question: Est-ce que le bus est en avance aujourd’hui ?
• Intonation (informal speech): Le bus est en avance aujourd’hui ?

How do I say the bus is 10 minutes early?

• Le bus a 10 minutes d’avance.
• Le bus est en avance de 10 minutes. Both are common.

Any pronunciation tips for the whole sentence?

• le [lə], bus [bys] (the French u is like the German ü), est [ɛ].
• est and en make a liaison: est en is pronounced with a [t] sound between them: [ɛ‿tɑ̃].
• There is normally no liaison between a singular noun and a following verb, so in le bus est, the final s of bus stays silent.
• avance is [avɑ̃s] (final e mute, c = s).
• aujourd’hui is [oʒuʁdɥi] (h is mute; the d is pronounced; ui = [ɥi]). Put together smoothly: roughly luh by ess-tahn ah-vahns oh-zhoor-dwee.

Where can I place aujourd’hui in the sentence?

• End (very common): Le bus est en avance aujourd’hui.
• Beginning (with a comma): Aujourd’hui, le bus est en avance.
• Before the adjective phrase (more formal/emphatic): Le bus est aujourd’hui en avance. Avoid splitting en and avance.

Why is there an apostrophe in aujourd’hui, and how do I write it?

• It’s one word with an apostrophe: aujourd’hui. No spaces or hyphens.
• Historically it comes from a phrase meaning on the day of today (au jour d’hui).
• It’s lowercase unless at the start of a sentence. You can form d’aujourd’hui (of today) when needed.

Is bus masculine or feminine? Are there other words I could use?

• bus is masculine: le bus.
• autobus is also masculine: l’autobus (less common in everyday speech).
• car / autocar is a coach (long-distance bus): le car.
• navette is a shuttle: la navette.

Can I drop the article like in English (Bus is early today)?

No. French normally requires a determiner. You need le (or another determiner): Le bus est en avance aujourd’hui.

What about other tenses (past or future)?

• Past: Le bus était en avance (imperfect, descriptive) or Le bus a été en avance (completed fact).
• Future: Le bus sera en avance (prediction) or near future Le bus va être en avance (more immediate).

What’s the difference between en avance and d’avance?

• en avance describes being earlier than scheduled (time status).
• d’avance appears in set expressions meaning in advance/now already: Merci d’avance, Je le sais d’avance. You wouldn’t say Le bus est d’avance.

Could I use avancé here, like Le bus est avancé?

No for the meaning of early. avancé is an adjective meaning advanced/far along (La nuit est avancée, Un projet avancé). To express early relative to a schedule, use en avance. If you mean the bus has physically moved forward, use the verb: Le bus a avancé.