Learn Hardcore French: Ce week‑end, je vais au centre‑ville avec mes amis. - This weekend, I am going downtown with my friends.

ce = masculine singular before a consonant sound
- ce week‑end (this weekend)
- ce livre (this book)
cet = masculine singular before a vowel or silent h
- cet ami (this friend)
- cet homme (this man)
cette = feminine singular
- cette semaine (this week)
ces = plural (masc. or fem.)
- ces amis, ces amies (these friends)

Since week‑end is masculine, singular, and begins with a consonant sound /w/, we use ce: ce week‑end = this weekend.

Why is there a hyphen in week‑end? Is it always written like that?

Week‑end is a word borrowed from English.

Traditionally, French wrote it with a hyphen: week‑end.
Modern spelling reforms also accept weekend (without a hyphen).

Both forms are understood; you’ll see week‑end very often in textbooks, and weekend increasingly in everyday writing. The pronunciation and meaning are the same, and the word is masculine:

un week‑end / un weekend = a weekend

Why is there no article like le before week‑end?

In ce week‑end, the word ce already plays the role of a determiner (like this in English).

In French, a noun normally takes only one determiner:

article: le, la, les, un, une, des
demonstrative: ce, cet, cette, ces
possessive: mon, ma, mes, ton, ta, tes, etc.

You cannot combine them:

✅ ce week‑end (this weekend)
❌ ce le week‑end
❌ le ce week‑end

So there’s no le because ce already fills that slot.

Is je vais here a present tense or a future tense? How does it compare with English?

Vais is the present tense of aller (to go).

Literally, je vais au centre‑ville means I go to downtown / I’m going downtown.
Because of the time expression ce week‑end, the present refers to a future plan:

Ce week‑end, je vais au centre‑ville.
= This weekend, I’m going downtown.

This is similar to English, where you can use a present form for a future plan:

This weekend, I’m going downtown.

Important difference:

Je vais au centre‑ville = I (will) go / I’m going downtown.
Je vais aller au centre‑ville = I am going to go downtown (literally I’m going to go).
J’irai au centre‑ville = I will go downtown (simple future).

In your sentence, je vais is the ordinary present of aller, used with a future time phrase to talk about a plan.

Why do we say au centre‑ville and not à le centre‑ville?

Because French has mandatory contractions:

à + le = au
à + les = aux
de + le = du
de + les = des

You cannot say à le:

❌ à le centre‑ville
✅ au centre‑ville (to the city center / to downtown)

So au is just à + le fused together.

Could we say en centre‑ville or dans le centre‑ville instead of au centre‑ville?

They’re not all equally natural.

au centre‑ville
- Very common and idiomatic.
- With motion verbs like aller, it means to (the) city center / downtown.
dans le centre‑ville
- Possible, but more literal, focusing on being inside that zone.
- Often used when describing where something is located:
  - Mon hôtel est dans le centre‑ville. = My hotel is in the city center.
en centre‑ville
- Much less common; you’ll hear it sometimes, but it can sound a bit journalistic or technical (e.g. urban planning context). It’s not what beginners usually need.

A very common alternative is:

en ville = in town / to town (more general than centre‑ville)

Example contrast:

Je vais en ville ce week‑end. = I’m going into town this weekend.
Je vais au centre‑ville ce week‑end. = I’m going downtown / to the city center this weekend.

What exactly does centre‑ville mean? Is it the same as ville?

No, they’re not the same.

la ville = the town / the city (the whole urban area)
le centre‑ville = the downtown, city center or town center (the central district)

So:

Je vais en ville. = I’m going into town. (general)
Je vais au centre‑ville. = I’m going to the city center / downtown. (more specific)

Centre‑ville is a compound noun written with a hyphen; it’s masculine:

le centre‑ville
un grand centre‑ville

Why is it avec mes amis and not just avec des amis?

It’s a question of specific vs. non‑specific friends.

avec mes amis = with my friends
- A specific group (the speaker’s own friends).
avec des amis = with (some) friends
- Non‑specific: some friends, maybe mine, maybe others – we don’t know whose.

In your sentence, avec mes amis implies with my friends (the ones you know I have / my usual friends). You could say avec des amis, but it sounds more vague: just some friends, not clearly anchored to “me”.

Why is it mes amis and not mon amis?

Because French possessive adjectives agree with the number and gender of the noun possessed, not with the owner.

mon = my (masculine singular)
- mon ami = my (male) friend
ma = my (feminine singular)
- ma maison = my house
mes = my (plural, masculine or feminine)
- mes amis = my friends
- mes amies = my (female) friends

Here, amis is plural, so you must use mes:

✅ mes amis
❌ mon amis

If my friends are all female, should I say mes amies instead of mes amis?

Yes:

mes amis = my friends (all male or a mixed/unspecified group)
mes amies = my friends (all female)

Important detail: in pronunciation, amis and amies sound the same:

amis → [a‑mi]
amies → [a‑mi]

The difference is only in spelling and grammar, not in sound.

If the group is mixed or you don’t want to specify gender, standard French uses the masculine plural: amis.

How do you pronounce the whole sentence? Are there any liaisons?

Approximate pronunciation (in IPA):

Ce week‑end, je vais au centre‑ville avec mes amis.
/sə wik‿ɛnd ʒə vɛ o sɑ̃tʁ(ə)vɪl avɛk me.z‿a.mi/

Key points:

Ce → like suh.
week‑end → close to English weekend, but with a French accent; final d may be lightly pronounced or almost silent depending on the speaker.
je vais → je like zhuh; vais like veh.
au → like oh.
centre‑ville →
- centre: sɑ̃tʁ (the final -re is not like English center; the e is often very light or dropped).
- ville: veel.

Liaisons:

avec mes amis is pronounced [avɛk me.z‿a.mi]
- The s of mes becomes a [z] sound and links to amis.
- So you hear mez‑amis, not me amis.

Other final consonants like the s in amis are silent: you don’t say the final s.

Can we move ce week‑end to the end and say Je vais au centre‑ville avec mes amis ce week‑end?

Yes, absolutely. Both are correct:

Ce week‑end, je vais au centre‑ville avec mes amis.
Je vais au centre‑ville avec mes amis ce week‑end.

In French, time expressions like ce week‑end, demain, ce soir are quite flexible in position.

Putting ce week‑end at the beginning slightly emphasizes the time; putting it at the end feels a bit more neutral. Both are natural.

Is the comma after Ce week‑end required?

No, it’s optional here.

You can write:

Ce week‑end, je vais au centre‑ville avec mes amis.
Ce week‑end je vais au centre‑ville avec mes amis.

The comma often reflects a pause in speech and is common when an adverbial phrase (like a time expression) is moved to the start of the sentence. But grammatically, both versions are fine.