Je travaille au laboratoire aujourd'hui.

I am working at the laboratory today.

Breakdown of Je travaille au laboratoire aujourd'hui.

• je: I
• travailler: to work
• aujourd'hui: today
• le laboratoire: the laboratory
• au: on the

Questions & Answers about Je travaille au laboratoire aujourd'hui.

Why is it au laboratoire and not à le laboratoire?

In French, the preposition à contracts with the masculine singular article le:

• à + le = au
• à + les = aux

So:

• à + le laboratoire → au laboratoire

You never say à le laboratoire; the contraction au is mandatory whenever à is followed by le.

Why is it au laboratoire and not à la laboratoire? Is laboratoire masculine?

Yes, laboratoire is a masculine noun in French, so it takes the masculine article le:

• le laboratoire (the laboratory)

With à, this becomes:

• à + le laboratoire → au laboratoire

If the noun were feminine, you would have à la (no contraction), e.g.:

• à la banque (at the bank)
• à la bibliothèque (at the library)

Because laboratoire is masculine, you must use au, not à la.

What is the difference between au laboratoire and dans le laboratoire?

Both are correct, but they don’t mean exactly the same thing:

• au laboratoire ≈ “at the lab” as a place or institution

  • Focus on where you work in general: your workplace is the lab.
  • Natural in sentences like: Je travaille au laboratoire (I work at the lab).

• dans le laboratoire ≈ “inside the lab” (physically inside the room/space)

  • Emphasizes being inside the lab area, not just affiliated with it.
  • More like: Je suis dans le laboratoire (I am in the lab [room]).

In the sentence you gave, au laboratoire sounds like “my workplace is the lab.”

Why do we say je travaille and not je suis travaillant to mean “I am working”?

French usually does not use a “be + -ing” structure for ongoing actions the way English does.

• Je travaille can mean both:
  • “I work” (general/habitual)
  • “I am working” (right now / today)

Saying je suis travaillant is ungrammatical in standard French.

If you really want to stress the ongoing aspect, French uses:

• Je suis en train de travailler. = “I am in the middle of working.”

But in everyday speech, Je travaille au laboratoire aujourd’hui is perfectly natural for “I am working at the lab today.”

Can Je travaille au laboratoire aujourd’hui refer to the future, like “I’m working at the lab today (it’s on my schedule)”?

Yes. French present tense often covers what English expresses with the present progressive or a near-future:

• Je travaille au laboratoire aujourd’hui.
  • Context can make it mean:
    • “I am working at the lab today” (right now / scheduled today).

If you want to make the future idea even clearer, you can also say:

• Je vais travailler au laboratoire aujourd’hui.
  (“I’m going to work at the lab today.”)

But in everyday conversation, the simple present with aujourd’hui is enough to express a planned workday.

How do you pronounce travaille? Is the final e or l pronounced?

Travaille is pronounced roughly like “tra-vai” in English. In IPA: /tʁa.vaj/.

• tra- = /tʁa/ (the French r is guttural, in the throat)
• -vaille = /vaj/ (like “vai” in violin, ending with a y sound)

Details:

• The written -ille here gives a /j/ (“y”) sound.
• The final e in travaille is silent.
• There is no pronounced l at the end.

So you do not say something like “tra-vail-eu.” It’s just /tʁa.vaj/.

Is there a liaison or special linking between travaille and au when you say the sentence?

There is no extra consonant added, but the sounds flow together:

• Je travaille au laboratoire → /ʒə tʁa.vaj o la.bɔ.ʁa.twaʁ/

Key points:

• Travaille ends in the /j/ sound (like English y).
• Au starts with the vowel sound /o/.
• When speaking naturally, /vaj o/ runs smoothly: travail-o…, but you don’t add an extra consonant (no t, z, etc.).

So: no liaison consonant, just natural linking between /j/ and /o/.

Is aujourd’hui one word or several words? Why is there an apostrophe?

For modern French, you treat aujourd’hui as one word:

• aujourd’hui

You do not write it as au jour d’hui in normal usage.

Historically, it comes from au jour d’hui (“on the day of today”), which explains:

• au (to/on the)
• jour (day)
• d’ (of)
• hui (an old word for “today”)

The apostrophe is from de + hui → d’hui, but for learners, the main point is:

• Always write aujourd’hui as a single word.

Why is there no preposition like à before aujourd’hui (no à aujourd’hui)?

Aujourd’hui is an adverb of time, not a regular noun in this sentence. French time adverbs (like aujourd’hui, demain, hier) are used without a preposition:

• Je travaille aujourd’hui.
• Je pars demain.
• Je suis arrivé hier.

So you don’t say à aujourd’hui to mean “on today,” just as in French you don’t say à demain when you mean “tomorrow” in a sentence about time (except in the fixed expression À demain ! meaning “See you tomorrow!”).

Can aujourd’hui go in other positions, like at the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Aujourd’hui is flexible in position. Common options:

1. End of the sentence (neutral, very common):

   • Je travaille au laboratoire aujourd’hui.

2. Beginning, with a comma (emphasis on “today”):

   • Aujourd’hui, je travaille au laboratoire.

3. After the verb, before the place (less common here, but possible):

   • Je travaille aujourd’hui au laboratoire.
     (emphasis a bit more on when than where)

All three are grammatically correct; the choice is mostly about emphasis and style.

Why is it laboratoire and not something like laboratory or lab in French? Is there a shorter form?

French uses laboratoire as the full, standard word corresponding to English “laboratory.”

There is also a common shorter, informal form:

• labo (masculine): Je travaille au labo aujourd’hui.

Difference in style:

• laboratoire: neutral, works in speech and in written/official contexts.
• labo: informal, very common in everyday speech, less so in formal writing.

In your sentence, Je travaille au laboratoire aujourd’hui is perfectly standard and neutral.

Could I say something informal like Je bosse au laboratoire aujourd’hui instead of Je travaille?

Yes, but it changes the register (level of formality).

• Je travaille au laboratoire aujourd’hui.

  • Neutral / standard; works in almost any situation.

• Je bosse au laboratoire aujourd’hui.

  • Bosser is colloquial, like “to work” in the sense of “to be on the job / to grind / to slog.”
  • Used in casual speech, with friends or colleagues.

So Je bosse au labo aujourd’hui would be very conversational; use Je travaille au laboratoire aujourd’hui in more formal or polite contexts.