Learn Hardcore French: Le tram s'arrête au feu rouge près de la mairie. - The tram stops at the red light near the town hall.

If you said Le tram arrête, you’d be implying the tram stops something/someone, which doesn’t make sense here. So se (which becomes s’ before a vowel) is needed to show that the tram itself is coming to a stop.

Why do we have s' instead of se in s'arrête?

French avoids having two vowel sounds clash. When se comes before a verb that starts with a vowel or a silent h, se loses its e and becomes s’. This is called elision.

se
- arrêter → s’arrêter
Je me arrête → Je m’arrête
Il se habille → Il s’habille

So s’arrête is just the contracted form of se arrête, which is not allowed in standard French.

What does au mean in au feu rouge? Why not à le feu rouge?

Au is a contraction of à + le:

à = at / to
le = the (masculine singular)
à + le → au

So:

au feu rouge literally = at the red light
You cannot say à le feu rouge; French always contracts it to au feu rouge.

Similarly:

à + le parc → au parc
à + le cinéma → au cinéma

Does feu rouge mean “red fire”? How does it mean traffic light?

Literally, feu rouge could be understood as “red fire,” but in modern usage:

un feu rouge = a red traffic light
un feu (de circulation / tricolore) = a traffic light in general

Context tells you it’s a traffic light, not an actual fire. So in this sentence:

au feu rouge = at the red traffic light (i.e., when the light is red and tells you to stop).

Why is it près de la mairie and not près la mairie?

The preposition près (meaning near) is almost always followed by de:

près de = near
près de la mairie = near the town hall

You then combine de with the appropriate article:

près de la mairie (la)
près du parc (de + le → du)
près des écoles (de + les → des)

So près la mairie is incorrect; you must say près de la mairie.

What exactly does mairie mean? Is it “mayor” or “town hall”?

La mairie has two related meanings:

The town/city hall – the building where local government and administrative services are.
By extension, it can refer to the local council / local authorities (the institution).

It does not mean “mayor.”

le maire = the mayor (the person)
la mairie = the town hall / municipal offices

In this sentence, près de la mairie clearly refers to the building.

Why is it le tram and not la tram? Is tram masculine?

Yes, tram is masculine in French:

le tram or le tramway = the tram

French noun genders are largely arbitrary and must be memorized. Here:

le tram (masculine)
So you say le tram, un tram, ce tram, etc.

You might also see le tramway, which is the full form; le tram is the shortened, very common everyday version.

Is there any difference between près de and proche de for “near”?

Both can express the idea of “near,” but they’re used slightly differently:

près de is a preposition:
- Le tram s’arrête près de la mairie.
proche de is usually an adjective used after the verb être or a similar verb:
- La station de tram est proche de la mairie.

In many contexts you can paraphrase one with the other:

près de la mairie ≈ (être) proche de la mairie

But you wouldn’t normally say s’arrête proche de la mairie; près de sounds more natural with s’arrêter.

Can au feu rouge also mean “at a red light” (not a specific one), or does le always mean “the”?

Grammatically, le is “the,” so au feu rouge is literally “at the red light.”

However, in practice, French often uses the definite article where English might use “a” or no article. Depending on context, au feu rouge could be understood more generally:

Le tram s’arrête au feu rouge.
→ The tram stops at the red light (the one in that area / in front of you).

If you really wanted to stress any red light in a general statement, you’d normally change the sentence more, for example:

Le tram s’arrête à chaque feu rouge.
→ The tram stops at every red light.

How would the sentence change if I used another subject, like “we” or “I”?

The verb s’arrêter must agree with the subject, and the reflexive pronoun changes too. For example:

Je m’arrête au feu rouge près de la mairie.
→ I stop at the red light near the town hall.
Nous nous arrêtons au feu rouge près de la mairie.
→ We stop at the red light near the town hall.

Pattern:

je m’arrête
tu t’arrêtes
il/elle s’arrête
nous nous arrêtons
vous vous arrêtez
ils/elles s’arrêtent

How do you pronounce s'arrête and au in this sentence?

s’arrête: pronounced roughly [sar-RET]
- The s’ links directly into the vowel of arrête.
- Final -e in arrête is not pronounced; you just hear the t.
au: pronounced roughly [o] (like the “o” in “go,” but shorter and pure, not diphthongised).

So the core rhythm of Le tram s’arrête au feu rouge is approximately:
[lə tram sar-RET o fø RUZH] (RUZH like the “zh” sound in “measure”).