Learn Hardcore French: Le vendredi, nous allons au café après le boulot. - On Fridays, we go to the café after work.

In French, using a definite article before a day of the week (le lundi, le mardi, le vendredi, etc.) usually means a habitual or repeated action:

Le vendredi, nous allons au café.
= On Fridays (every Friday), we go to the café.

If you say just Vendredi, nous allons au café, it usually means this coming Friday only, not every Friday.

Can I say Les vendredis instead of Le vendredi here?

You can say Les vendredis, nous allons au café, but it sounds a bit heavier and is less common for habits.

Subtle differences:

Le vendredi, nous allons au café.
Most natural way to say "On Fridays we go to the café" (habit).
Les vendredis, nous allons au café.
Grammatically correct, but feels like you’re listing Fridays as a series of individual days more than stating a routine. You might see it written for emphasis, but it’s rarer in everyday speech.

So for a simple habit, le vendredi is the standard choice.

Why is the verb in the present (nous allons) and not the future (nous irons)?

French often uses the present tense to talk about:

Habits and routines (what you usually do)
Scheduled events (like timetables)

So:

Le vendredi, nous allons au café.
= On Fridays, we (normally) go to the café.

If you say:

Le vendredi, nous irons au café.

it sounds like a promise or decision about the future habit, something like: "From Friday on / Starting Friday, we will go to the café (on Fridays)."
It’s no longer a neutral description of your current routine.

What exactly does au in au café mean?

Au is a contraction of à + le:

à = to / at
le = the (masculine singular)

So:

à + le café → au café

Literally: "to the café" or "at the café", depending on context.

When do I use au, à la, à l’, and aux?

They all come from à + definite article, and agreement depends on the noun:

au = à + le (masculine singular)
- au café, au cinéma, au parc
à la = feminine singular
- à la banque, à la plage
à l’ = before a vowel sound, any gender
- à l’école, à l’université
aux = à + les (plural)
- aux cafés, aux magasins

In your sentence, café is masculine singular, so it becomes au café.

Is there a difference between au café and dans un café?

Yes, there’s a nuance:

au café
- Often suggests a specific café that the speaker and listener know,
- Or more generally "the café" as a type of place you go to regularly.
- Very natural with routine:
  Le vendredi, nous allons au café. (We go to the café.)
dans un café
- Literally "in a café", usually any café, not a particular one.
- Focus is more on being inside some café than on a known regular place.

So for a regular hangout or habit, au café is the most idiomatic choice.

What does boulot mean, and is it formal?

Boulot means work / job, but it is informal/colloquial.

Roughly:

le travail = work (neutral, standard word; can be formal)
le boulot = work (informal, everyday speech)
(even more slang: le taf, very colloquial)

So:

après le travail
Neutral, could work in any context.
après le boulot
Sounds more casual, like something you’d say with friends or colleagues in everyday conversation.

Why is it le boulot and not just boulot without an article?

In French, general, abstract nouns often use a definite article where English would use no article:

English: after work
French: après le travail / après le boulot

Other examples:

J’aime le café. = I like coffee.
La musique est importante. = Music is important.

So le boulot is simply following this French pattern of using the definite article with generic nouns.

Can I change the word order of the time expressions, like moving Le vendredi or après le boulot?

Yes, French is fairly flexible with time expressions. All of these are possible:

Le vendredi, nous allons au café après le boulot.
Le vendredi, après le boulot, nous allons au café.
Nous allons au café le vendredi après le boulot.
Après le boulot, le vendredi, nous allons au café. (less common, but possible)

Most natural and common are:

Le vendredi, nous allons au café après le boulot.
Nous allons au café le vendredi après le boulot.

Putting Le vendredi at the beginning is a very typical way to introduce a habitual action.

Could I use on instead of nous here? What would change?

Yes:

Le vendredi, on va au café après le boulot.

This is very natural, and in spoken French, on is more common than nous for "we".

Differences:

nous allons
- More formal or written
- Very clear grammatically
on va
- Very frequent in speech
- Grammatically 3rd person singular, but means "we" in everyday French

Meaning-wise, in this sentence, they are equivalent.

Any important pronunciation tips for this sentence?

Key points:

Le vendredi
- Final i in vendredi is pronounced like English "ee".
- Stress is on the last syllable: vendre-DI.
nous allons
- There is a liaison: the final s in nous is pronounced /z/:
  nou-z-allons.
au café
- au = /o/ (like "oh")
- café = ka-FÉ, with stress on fé and an audible final é.
après le boulot
- après: final s is silent.
- boulot: final t is silent; 2 syllables: bou-LO.

Said smoothly, it flows as:

Le vendredi, nou-z-allons au café après le boulo.