Le mardi, nous faisons les courses après le boulot.

On Tuesdays, we do the shopping after work.

Breakdown of Le mardi, nous faisons les courses après le boulot.

• nous: we
• après: after
• le: on
• le boulot: the work
• faire les courses: to do the shopping
• le mardi: the Tuesday

Questions & Answers about Le mardi, nous faisons les courses après le boulot.

Why is it “Le mardi” and not just “Mardi” or “Les mardis”?

In French, to talk about a habitual action that happens every week on a given day, you normally use:

• Le + day of the week
  → Le mardi = On Tuesdays / Every Tuesday

So “Le mardi, nous faisons les courses…” means this is something you usually do every Tuesday.

You could also say:

• Tous les mardis = Every Tuesday (a bit more explicit)
• Plain “Mardi” (without le) usually means this Tuesday (a specific one), not a regular habit.

So:

• Le mardi, je vais à la gym. = On Tuesdays, I go to the gym (regularly).
• Mardi, je vais à la gym. = This Tuesday, I’m going to the gym.

Why is “mardi” not capitalized like Tuesday in English?

In French, days of the week are not capitalized unless they start a sentence or are part of a title.

So you write:

• mardi, lundi, mercredi, etc.
• but at the start of a sentence: Mardi, je travaille.

In the middle of a sentence, you keep them lowercase:

• Je travaille mardi.

What does “faire les courses” literally mean, and why is it used for grocery shopping?

Literally:

• faire = to do / to make
• les courses = the errands / the (shopping) rounds

But “faire les courses” is an idiomatic expression meaning:

• to do the shopping, usually grocery shopping or regular household shopping.

Examples:

• Je dois faire les courses. = I have to do the shopping (buy food, basics, etc.).
• On fait les courses au supermarché. = We do the shopping at the supermarket.

If you mean non-essential or leisure shopping (clothes, fun things), French people more often say:

• faire du shopping = to go (leisure) shopping.

Why is it “les courses” (plural, with les) and not just “courses” or “la course”?

In French, many common expressions require a definite article (le, la, les) even when English doesn’t use “the.”

• faire les courses is a fixed expression.
• You almost always keep les and the plural.

Compare:

• faire les courses = to do the (grocery) shopping (fixed idiom)
• une course on its own can mean an errand or a race.
  • Je dois faire une course. = I have to run an errand.
  • Il fait une course. = He’s running a race.

But when you mean general grocery/household shopping, you say les courses.

Why is the verb “faire” used here, and how is “nous faisons” formed?

The verb faire (to do / to make) is used in many fixed expressions in French, including faire les courses.

Conjugation in the present (indicative):

• je fais
• tu fais
• il / elle / on fait
• nous faisons
• vous faites
• ils / elles font

So in the sentence:

• nous faisons les courses = we do the shopping
  Present tense here expresses a habitual action (what you usually do on Tuesdays).

In everyday spoken French, people often say:

• Le mardi, on fait les courses…
  Here on = informal “we”. Grammatically 3rd person singular:
• on fait (not faisons).

Could you also say “nous allons faire les courses” instead of “nous faisons les courses”?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• nous faisons les courses = we do the shopping (a general/habitual statement in the present).
• nous allons faire les courses = we are going to do the shopping (near future, usually about a specific occasion).

So:

• Le mardi, nous faisons les courses.
  = On Tuesdays, we (normally) do the shopping.
• Ce mardi, nous allons faire les courses.
  = This Tuesday, we’re going to do the shopping (specific Tuesday, future plan).

What does “après le boulot” mean, and how is it different from “après le travail”?

• après = after
• le boulot = work / job in an informal, colloquial way.

So:

• après le boulot ≈ after work (casual tone).

Difference:

• le travail = more neutral/formal word for work.
• le boulot = informal/familiar; fine in speech, among friends, in casual writing.

Compare:

• Après le travail, j’ai une réunion. (neutral/formal)
• Après le boulot, on va boire un verre. (casual, everyday speech)

In your sentence, “après le boulot” fits the informal, everyday feel of talking about weekly shopping.

Why is it “après le boulot” and not just “après boulot”?

In French, you usually need an article (le, la, les) before a common noun like boulot when it’s used this way.

• après le boulot = grammatically correct.
• après boulot = incorrect / unnatural.

Same pattern with travail:

• après le travail, not après travail.

French often keeps articles where English omits them:

• à l’école = at school
• à la maison = at home
• au travail / au boulot = at work

Is the word order “Le mardi, nous faisons les courses après le boulot” fixed, or can it be changed?

You can change the order of the time expressions, but keep the structure logical and clear.

All of these are correct, with slightly different emphasis:

1. Le mardi, nous faisons les courses après le boulot.
   → Neutral; emphasis on Tuesdays as the general time.

2. Nous faisons les courses le mardi après le boulot.
   → More typical neutral order in speech; subject and verb come first.

3. Après le boulot, le mardi, nous faisons les courses.
   → Stronger emphasis on after work, then on Tuesdays; feels a bit heavier.

In everyday speech, 2 is very common:

• Nous faisons les courses le mardi après le boulot.

Is there a difference between “Le mardi, nous faisons les courses” and “Tous les mardis, nous faisons les courses”?

Both express a habit, but:

• Le mardi…
  → Standard way to say “On Tuesdays…”, implying a regular habit.

• Tous les mardis…
  → Literally “Every Tuesday…”, slightly more explicit that it happens every single Tuesday with no exception (or that’s the idea).

In practice, they’re often interchangeable:

• Le mardi, nous faisons les courses.
• Tous les mardis, nous faisons les courses.

Both would normally be understood as Every Tuesday, we do the shopping.