Paul travaille au collège maintenant.

Paul

Breakdown of Paul travaille au collège maintenant.

• travailler: to work
• maintenant: now
• au: at the

Questions & Answers about Paul travaille au collège maintenant.

Why is it travaille and not travail in this sentence?

Travaille is a verb form (from travailler, to work), while travail is usually a noun (work, job).

In Paul travaille au collège maintenant, travaille is the verb meaning “works / is working”.
It’s the present tense, 3rd person singular (he/she):

• je travaille – I work / I am working
• tu travailles – you work
• il/elle travaille – he/she works
• nous travaillons – we work
• vous travaillez – you (pl/formal) work
• ils/elles travaillent – they work

You can’t use the noun travail in the verb position; that would be like saying in English: Paul work at the middle school now (missing the correct verb form works).

What tense is travaille, and does it mean “works” or “is working”?

Travaille is in the present tense (présent de l’indicatif).

French has one present tense where English has two common forms:

• Paul travaille au collège maintenant.
  → can mean Paul works at the middle school now. (general situation, job)
  → or Paul is working at the middle school now. (current situation)

Context tells you whether it’s about his ongoing job, a recent change, or an action happening around now. But grammatically, the same French verb form covers both English meanings.