Au collège, Marie aimait surtout les cours d’anglais.

In middle school, Marie especially liked English classes.

Breakdown of Au collège, Marie aimait surtout les cours d’anglais.

• Marie: Marie
• aimer: to like
• surtout: especially
• au: in
• d': of
• le cours: the class
• le collège: the middle school
• l'anglais: English

Questions & Answers about Au collège, Marie aimait surtout les cours d’anglais.

In this sentence, what does au collège actually mean? Is it the same as at college in English?

Au collège does not mean at college in the English sense of university.

In France:

• un collège = middle school / junior high (roughly ages 11–15)
• un lycée = high school
• l’université or la fac = university / college (in the English sense)

So Au collège, Marie aimait surtout les cours d’anglais means:

• When she was in middle school / junior high, Marie especially liked English class.

Why is it au collège and not à le collège or dans le collège?

Au is the contracted form of à + le:

• à + le collège → au collège

We almost always contract à + le to au in correct French.

Meaning differences:

• au collège = at / in middle school (as an institution or time in life)
• dans le collège = inside the school building (physical location)

In this sentence, we are talking about the period in her life (when she was in middle school), so au collège is the natural choice.

Why is the verb aimait in the imperfect tense and not a aimé (passé composé)?

The imparfait (imperfect) is used for:

• habits and repeated actions in the past
• ongoing states, feelings, and descriptions in the past

Aimait (imperfect) suggests:

• Marie used to like English classes
• it was a general, ongoing preference during that whole period

If we said:

• Au collège, Marie a aimé les cours d’anglais,
  that would sound like:
• Marie liked English classes at a specific moment or during a limited, completed event, which is odd for a general school preference.

So the imperfect aimait matches the idea of a continuing preference / habit in the past.

How can aimait mean used to like in English? There is no word like used in French here.

French does not need an extra word like used to.

The imperfect tense itself carries that idea. For many verbs, especially verbs of:

• emotion (aimer, détester, préférer…)
• mental states (penser, croire…)
• description (être, avoir…)

the imperfect corresponds to English used to ... or would ... (in a habitual sense).

So:

• Marie aimait les cours d’anglais.
  ≈ Marie used to like English classes.
  ≈ Marie liked English classes (in general, back then).

The context (a past time frame au collège) and the use of aimait tell us it is a habitual past liking, not just once.

What does surtout mean here exactly? Is it especially, mainly, or above all?

In this context, surtout means roughly:

• especially, above all, or more than anything else

So Marie aimait surtout les cours d’anglais means:

• Among all her classes, the ones she liked most of all were English classes.

Nuances:

• surtout = especially / above all, with a sense of priority
• principalement = mainly / principally (more neutral, less emotional)
• particulièrement = particularly, often used similarly to especially

Here, surtout emphasises that English classes were her top favourite.

Could we move surtout to a different place in the sentence?

Yes, but not just anywhere. The most natural positions are:

1. The original:

   • Marie aimait surtout les cours d’anglais.
     (She especially liked English classes.)

2. At the very beginning, for stronger emphasis:

   • Surtout, Marie aimait les cours d’anglais.
     (Above all, Marie liked English classes.)

3. At the end, but this sounds a bit heavier and less common:

   • Marie aimait les cours d’anglais surtout.

You would not normally say:

• Marie surtout aimait les cours d’anglais. (sounds wrong / very awkward)

So best keep surtout:

• just before what it modifies (les cours d’anglais),
• or at the start of the clause for rhetorical emphasis.

Why is it les cours and not les classes or la classe?

In school contexts:

• un cours = a class / lesson / course (the subject or teaching session)

  • les cours d’anglais = English classes / English lessons

• une classe =

  • the group of students, or
  • a classroom, or sometimes a particular year group
  • la classe can mean the group of pupils in one room.

So:

• les cours d’anglais focuses on the lessons / subject (English as taught)
• les classes d’anglais is possible but sounds less natural in standard France French for school subjects
• la classe d’anglais = one specific English class (group of students)

Here, we mean English lessons as a subject, so les cours d’anglais is the natural expression.

Why is cours plural here? How do we know if cours is singular or plural?

Spelling:

• un cours (singular)
• des cours / les cours (plural)

The word cours is spelled the same in the singular and the plural.
We know if it is singular or plural by the article:

• un cours d’anglais = one English class / one lesson
• les cours d’anglais = the English classes (in general, all the lessons she had)

In this sentence, the idea is that throughout middle school, she liked English as a subject, i.e. all her English lessons, not just one specific class. That is why we use the plural les cours.

Why is it d’anglais and not des anglais or de l’anglais?

Structure:

• les cours d’anglais = English lessons / classes

Here d’ is the preposition de (of) linking cours and anglais:

• cours d’anglais = lessons of English

A few contrasts:

1. les cours d’anglais

   • classes of English (language lessons)
   • anglais = the subject / language

2. les Anglais

   • the English (people), the Englishmen / English women
   • capital A, plural noun

3. des anglais

   • some English people (again, people, not the language)

4. de l’anglais

   • some English (as a mass noun, the language), e.g.
     Elle parle de l’anglais. = She talks about English.

In our sentence, we want:

• lessons of the English language, so cours d’anglais is correct.

Why isn’t anglais capitalized in cours d’anglais?

In French:

• names of languages are not capitalized:
  • l’anglais, le français, l’espagnol…
• names of inhabitants / nationalities used as nouns are capitalized:
  • un Anglais, les Français, une Espagnole…

Here anglais refers to the language, not the people, so it stays lowercase:

• les cours d’anglais (correct)
• les cours d’Anglais (incorrect)

How do you pronounce cours here, and why is the s silent?

Cours is pronounced approximately like:

• [koor] in English phonetics (similar to koor in coors)

Details:

• c = [k]
• ou = [u] (like oo in food)
• r = French r, pronounced at the back of the throat
• final s is silent in standard French when the word is alone:
  • un cours → [kuʁ]
  • les cours → [le kuʁ]

The s would only be pronounced if there is a liaison (linking sound) in front of a vowel, e.g.:

• des cours intéressants → usually no liaison
• des cours utiles → you may hear cour(z)utiles in careful speech

In our standalone sentence, you simply do cours = [kuʁ] with a silent s.

Could we say Au collège, Marie aimait surtout l’anglais instead of les cours d’anglais? Would it mean the same thing?

Yes, you can say:

• Au collège, Marie aimait surtout l’anglais.

Meaning:

• At / in middle school, Marie especially liked English (the language / the subject).

Nuance:

• les cours d’anglais highlights the lessons / classes themselves.
• l’anglais highlights the language / subject in a more general way.

In real life, both sentences would usually be understood almost the same:

• she liked English class the most.

But:

• les cours d’anglais is a bit more concrete (she enjoyed the lessons)
• l’anglais is slightly more abstract (she liked the language / subject).