Learn Hardcore French: Marie cherche un emploi avec un bon salaire mais aussi du temps libre. - Marie is looking for a job with a good salary but also some free time.

un emploi
- Most often: a position / job you hold (more formal or neutral).
- Common in job ads, official contexts: offre d’emploi, emploi à temps plein.
un travail
- General word for work (the activity or concept).
- Can also mean “a job,” but less specific than emploi:
  - chercher du travail = “to look for (some) work.”
un boulot
- Informal / colloquial: like “a gig / a job”.
- You’d use it in casual conversation: J’ai trouvé un nouveau boulot.

In the sentence, un emploi fits well because it sounds neutral and job-focused.

Why is it un emploi and not une emploi?

In French, every noun has a grammatical gender.

emploi is masculine, so it must use un (the masculine singular indefinite article).

So:

un emploi ✅
une emploi ❌

You just have to memorize the gender along with the noun:

un emploi, un travail, un métier, but une profession.

How is cherche formed, and what tense is it?

Cherche is the present tense, 3rd person singular form of the verb chercher (to look for).

Conjugation (présent de l’indicatif):

je cherche
tu cherches
il / elle / on cherche
nous cherchons
vous cherchez
ils / elles cherchent

So Marie cherche = “Marie is looking for / looks for.”
French uses the simple present for both “looks for” and “is looking for.”

Why is it un bon salaire instead of un salaire bon?

In French, most adjectives go after the noun, but some common ones usually go before.
Bon (good) is one that normally comes before the noun:

un bon salaire ✅ (a good salary)
un bon livre (a good book)

Un salaire bon sounds odd or marked; it’s not how French speakers would normally say it.
So the natural, idiomatic order here is un bon salaire.

What is the difference between bon and bien?

Both relate to “good,” but they’re used differently:

bon is an adjective: it describes nouns (people or things).
- un bon salaire (a good salary)
- un bon film (a good movie)
bien is usually an adverb: it describes verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
- Elle travaille bien. (She works well.)
- C’est bien. (That’s good / okay.)

In this sentence, we’re describing salaire (a noun), so we need bon, not bien:

un bon salaire ✅
un bien salaire ❌

What does avec do in un emploi avec un bon salaire?

Avec means “with.”

Here it introduces something that comes along with the job:

un emploi avec un bon salaire = “a job with a good salary.”

It’s a very common way to link a main noun and a characteristic/condition:

une maison avec jardin (a house with a garden)
un poste avec des responsabilités (a position with responsibilities)

Why is it mais aussi and not just et?

Both et and mais aussi can be translated as “and also” in English, but there is a nuance:

et du temps libre → simply adds another element: “and free time.”
mais aussi du temps libre → emphasizes that this second condition is in addition to the first and also important.

Mais means “but”, and aussi means “also.” Together here, mais aussi works more like “but also” / “as well”, often with a sense of contrast or extra weight:

She doesn’t only want a good salary; she also wants free time.

So mais aussi highlights that Marie has two important criteria, not just one.

Why is it du temps libre and not just temps libre?

Du here is a partitive article: de + le.

You use du / de la / des with uncountable nouns or when speaking about an indefinite quantity of something:

du pain (some bread)
de l’eau (some water)
du temps (some time)

In du temps libre, Marie wants some free time, not all possible free time. Using du makes it clear that it’s an unspecified amount.

Just saying temps libre without any article would sound incomplete or telegraphic in this kind of sentence.

Why is it du temps libre and not de temps libre?

Because temps is masculine singular, and after de + le, French contracts:

de + le temps → du temps

So:

du temps libre ✅
de le temps libre ❌ (never written like this)
de temps libre ❌ (here it’s missing the required article)

You only get bare de (without le/la/les) in certain structures, like:

after a negative: Je n’ai pas de temps libre. (I don’t have any free time.)
after some quantity words: beaucoup de temps libre (a lot of free time).

What is the meaning and usage of temps libre? Is it like “hobbies”?

Temps libre literally means “free time.”

temps = time
libre = free

It refers to time when you are not working or busy.
It is not the same as loisirs, which means “leisure activities / hobbies.”

J’ai du temps libre. = I have some free time.
J’ai beaucoup de loisirs. = I have a lot of hobbies / leisure activities.

Why is libre not changing form in du temps libre?

Libre is an adjective meaning “free.”
In French, adjectives agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun:

Masculine singular: libre
Feminine singular: libre
Masculine plural: libres
Feminine plural: libres

Since temps is masculine singular, we use the masculine singular form:

du temps libre ✅

The written form doesn’t change between masculine and feminine singular here; only the plural adds -s.

How do you pronounce the sentence, especially words like cherche, emploi, and temps?

Approximate pronunciations (in IPA and rough English hints):

Marie → /ma.ʁi/
- ma- like “ma” in “mama,” French r in the throat, i like “ee.”
cherche → /ʃɛʁʃ/
- ch = “sh” in “she.”
- e = like “e” in “bed.”
- Final -e is mostly silent: sounds like “sher-sh”.
un → /œ̃/
- Nasal vowel, similar to “uh” with air through the nose.
emploi → /ɑ̃.plwa/
- em = nasal, like “on” in French /ɑ̃/.
- ploi = “pl-wah.”
avec → /a.vɛk/
- Final c is pronounced “k.”
bon → /bɔ̃/
- Nasal “on” sound; final n not fully pronounced.
salaire → /sa.lɛʁ/
- Final -e mostly not heard; ends in French r.
mais → /mɛ/
- Like “meh.”
aussi → /o.si/
- “oh-see.”
du → /dy/
- Like “dyu” with rounded lips.
temps → /tɑ̃/
- Nasal vowel; -mps is silent.
libre → /li.bʁ(ə)/
- “lee-br(uh)” with French r; final e very light or almost absent.

So spoken smoothly:
[ma.ʁi ʃɛʁʃ œ̃n ɑ̃.plwa avɛk œ̃ bɔ̃ sa.lɛʁ mɛ osi dy tɑ̃ libʁ].