Je travaille au centre-ville aujourd'hui.

I am working downtown today.

Breakdown of Je travaille au centre-ville aujourd'hui.

• je: I
• travailler: to work
• aujourd'hui: today
• au: at the
• le centre-ville: the city center

Questions & Answers about Je travaille au centre-ville aujourd'hui.

Why is it au and not à le in au centre-ville?

In French, the preposition à contracts with the masculine singular article le to form au.

• à + le = au
• à + les = aux

Since centre-ville is masculine and singular (le centre-ville), à le centre-ville must contract to au centre-ville.
So Je travaille au centre-ville literally means I work at the downtown / in the city center.

What exactly does centre-ville mean? Is it like “downtown” or “city center”?

Centre-ville is the part of a town or city where the main shops, businesses, and services are located. Depending on the variety of English, it can be translated as:

• downtown (more North American)
• (the) city centre / town centre (more British)

The exact feel depends on the size of the place. In a big city, centre-ville is like the central business/shopping district; in a small town, it’s just the main area with shops and the town hall.

Is centre-ville masculine or feminine? Why don’t we see le in the sentence?

Centre-ville is masculine: le centre-ville.

You don’t see le because it is already included inside the contraction au:

• à + le centre-ville → au centre-ville

So au is actually à le compressed into one word. If you expanded it, the full form would be à le centre-ville, but French never writes or says it that way.

Why is there a hyphen in centre-ville? Can I write centre ville instead?

The standard modern spelling is centre-ville with a hyphen. It’s treated as a fixed compound noun meaning “city center / downtown.”

• centre = center
• ville = city/town

Writing centre ville (without a hyphen) looks incorrect in standard French. You might sometimes see it in informal contexts or older texts, but you should learn and use the hyphenated form centre-ville.

Could I say Je travaille dans le centre-ville aujourd'hui or en centre-ville? What’s the difference from au centre-ville?

All three can be heard, but they’re not identical:

• Je travaille au centre-ville
  Most common, very natural. General idea: My workplace is located in the downtown area / the city center.

• Je travaille dans le centre-ville
  Focuses more on inside that zone, as if you’re talking about the area as a physical space. Slightly more descriptive, less idiomatic than au centre-ville in many contexts but still correct.

• Je travaille en centre-ville
  Often used in everyday speech, especially in France. It’s a bit more colloquial and abstract: I work in the city center (viewed as a type of location, like en ville, en banlieue).

For a learner, au centre-ville is the safest and most standard choice.

Why is aujourd'hui at the end of the sentence? Could I say Aujourd'hui, je travaille au centre-ville?

Yes, both are correct:

• Je travaille au centre-ville aujourd'hui.
• Aujourd'hui, je travaille au centre-ville.

In French, adverbs of time like aujourd'hui, demain, ce soir can appear:

1. At the beginning of the sentence for emphasis on time:
   Aujourd'hui, je travaille au centre-ville.
   → Today (as opposed to other days), I’m working downtown.

2. At the end of the sentence, which is very common and neutral:
   Je travaille au centre-ville aujourd'hui.

The difference is mostly about emphasis; both orders are natural.

Why is je travaille translated as “I am working” here? Where is the continuous tense?

French doesn’t have a separate continuous tense like English (I work vs I am working). The présent in French covers both meanings, depending on context:

• Je travaille.
  → I work or I am working.

With aujourd'hui, the context clearly refers to what is happening today, so it is naturally translated as:

• Je travaille au centre-ville aujourd'hui.
  → I am working downtown today.

If you really want to stress the “right now” aspect, French can also use a periphrastic form:

• Je suis en train de travailler au centre-ville.
  → I am in the middle of working downtown. (more insistent on the ongoing action)

How is travailler conjugated in the present tense? Is travaille regular?

Travailler is a regular -er verb. Its present tense conjugation is:

• je travaille – I work / I am working
• tu travailles – you work (singular, informal)
• il / elle / on travaille – he/she/one works
• nous travaillons – we work
• vous travaillez – you work (plural or formal)
• ils / elles travaillent – they work

The form in the sentence, je travaille, is the regular je form.

What’s the difference between travail and travaille?

• travail (without final -le) is usually a noun:
  le travail = work, job.

• travaille (with -le) is a verb form, from travailler:

  • je travaille
  • il/elle/on travaille

Pronunciation:

• travail ends with a sound like -vay (the l is silent): [tra-vay]
• travaille in je travaille is pronounced the same as travail in most accents: [tra-vay]

So they often sound identical in speech, and you tell them apart by context and grammar, not by sound.

Do French speakers ever drop the je like in Spanish or Italian, and just say Travaille au centre-ville aujourd'hui?

No, not in standard French. Unlike Spanish or Italian, French normally requires the subject pronoun:

• Correct: Je travaille au centre-ville aujourd'hui.
• Incorrect (in standard French): Travaille au centre-ville aujourd'hui.

You can drop je only in certain informal written notes, headlines, or very stylized language, but as a learner you should always include the subject pronoun.

Could aujourd'hui come in the middle of the sentence, like Je travaille aujourd'hui au centre-ville?

Yes, that’s also grammatically correct:

• Je travaille aujourd'hui au centre-ville.

Possible positions for aujourd'hui in this sentence are:

1. Aujourd'hui, je travaille au centre-ville.
2. Je travaille aujourd'hui au centre-ville.
3. Je travaille au centre-ville aujourd'hui.

All three are acceptable. Native speakers might slightly change the position to emphasize either the time (Aujourd'hui) or the place (au centre-ville), but none of them is wrong.

If I want to say “I work in the city center” in general (not just today), would the sentence change?

You would normally drop aujourd'hui, but keep the rest:

• Je travaille au centre-ville.
  → I work in the city center / I work downtown (in general, as my usual workplace).

The present tense without a time expression is naturally understood as a habitual situation. Adding aujourd'hui makes it specifically about today.