Breakdown of Au café, un couple partage une bière après le travail.
Questions & Answers about Au café, un couple partage une bière après le travail.
Au café literally means “at the café”.
Au is a contraction of à + le:
- à = at / to / in (depending on context)
- le = the (masculine singular)
So:
- à + le café → au café
You use au in front of masculine singular nouns that would normally take le:
- au restaurant = at the restaurant
- au travail = at work
For feminine singular nouns, you do à la:
- à la maison = at home
For plural, you do aux (à + les):
- aux cafés = at the cafés
The comma marks an introductory phrase that sets the scene.
French often puts a location or time at the beginning of the sentence, followed by a comma:
- Au café, un couple partage une bière.
- Le soir, je lis un livre.
- En été, nous voyageons.
You could also write the sentence without moving the phrase:
- Un couple partage une bière au café après le travail.
Both are correct; the version with the comma just emphasizes the location first.
In French, un couple is grammatically singular, even though it refers to two people.
- un couple partage = a couple shares
- The verb partage agrees with un couple (singular), not with the idea of “two people.”
So you say:
- Le couple est heureux. (The couple is happy.)
- Un couple partage une bière.
Using partagent would be incorrect here, because partagent is the 3rd person plural form (ils/elles partagent).
Partage is the 3rd person singular of the verb partager (to share) in the present tense.
Présent de l’indicatif of partager:
- je partage – I share
- tu partages – you share (singular, informal)
- il / elle / on partage – he / she / one shares
- nous partageons – we share
- vous partagez – you share (plural or formal)
- ils / elles partagent – they share
Notice the -e- in nous partageons: it’s added to keep the soft g sound before -ons.
Une bière means “a beer” (one beer, one glass/bottle, a specific unit).
De la bière means “(some) beer” in general, not counted as individual units:
- Je prends une bière. = I’ll have a beer (one beer).
- Je bois de la bière. = I drink beer / I’m drinking some beer (in general, or an unspecified amount).
In the sentence un couple partage une bière, we imagine one beer that they share, so the countable form une bière is used.
Yes, bière is feminine: une bière, la bière.
There is no universal rule to guess gender, but a few patterns exist. For bière:
- It ends in -e, and many (not all) -e words are feminine.
- Beverages are mixed: le café, le thé, but la bière, la limonade.
You generally have to learn the gender with the word:
- un café (masc.)
- une bière (fem.)
- un vin (masc.)
In French, abstract nouns or activities often need an article where English doesn’t.
- après le travail = after work
- literally: after the work
Saying après travail without an article sounds wrong in standard French.
Compare:
- après le dîner = after dinner
- après l’école = after school
- après la réunion = after the meeting
So le is required here with travail.
In après le travail, travail means work in the general sense: the period of working, the workday.
It doesn’t refer to a specific “job position” (even though the idea is related). More like:
- after they finish working / after the workday / after work
If you want to stress the job itself, you might say:
- après leur journée de travail = after their working day
- après le boulot = after work (informal)
Yes, that is perfectly correct.
You’re just changing the order of the time and place information:
Au café, un couple partage une bière après le travail.
→ Location first, then time.Après le travail, un couple partage une bière au café.
→ Time first, then location.
Both sound natural. You can choose which element you want to emphasize.
Au café generally means “at the café” as a place (business), not necessarily inside.
It can include:
- inside the café
- on the terrace/patio of that café
If you really want to insist on the interior:
- dans le café = in the café (inside the building)
But in everyday French, au café naturally covers the typical situations of being served there, whether inside or outside.
You can say au bar, but it slightly changes the image.
- au café: evokes a French-style café, where people drink coffee, soft drinks, beer, maybe light food. It’s quite general and common in daily life.
- au bar: sounds more like a bar/pub, maybe more focused on alcohol, and sometimes a bit more “nightlife”.
Both are correct; it’s more about cultural context and the picture you want to create.
Approximate IPA pronunciation:
- Au café, un couple partage une bière après le travail.
→ [o kafe ɛ̃ kupl paʁtaʒ yn bjɛʁ apʁɛ lə tʁavaj]
Some tips:
- Au → [o], like “oh”.
- café → [kafe]; stress naturally on the last syllable: ca-FÉ.
- un → nasal [ɛ̃]; don’t pronounce a clear n at the end.
- couple → [kupl]; the final e is silent, so not “koo-pluh” but closer to “koup’l”.
- partage → [paʁtaʒ]; g here is soft, like the “s” in measure.
- une → [yn]; close rounded u sound.
- bière → [bjɛʁ]; like “byair” with a French r.
- après → [apʁɛ]; final s is silent.
- travail → [tʁavaj]; final l is silent, sounds like “trah-vai”.
No liaison between couple and partage: you do not link them (you don’t pronounce an extra sound).
In French, the simple present (partage) can express:
An action happening now:
- En ce moment, un couple partage une bière au café.
→ Right now, a couple is sharing a beer at the café.
- En ce moment, un couple partage une bière au café.
A habitual or regular action:
- Tous les jours après le travail, un couple partage une bière au café.
→ Every day after work, a couple shares a beer at the café.
- Tous les jours après le travail, un couple partage une bière au café.
Without extra context, it can be understood either as “right now” or as a general scene. The context or extra time expressions (like en ce moment, tous les jours) make the meaning clear.