Learn Hardcore French: Nous marchons vers le centre-ville après le travail.

French uses a single present tense where English often distinguishes between “we walk” and “we are walking”. Context tells you which English form is best.

Why is nous used here? Could I leave it out?

French subject pronouns like nous are not optional the way English sometimes drops subjects in commands (“Go!”).

You must say Nous marchons, not just Marchons, if you are making a normal statement.

Nous marchons = We walk / We are walking.
Marchons ! (without nous) would be understood as a command: Let’s walk!

So in this sentence, nous is required.

What exactly does vers mean here, and how is it different from à or jusqu’à?

Vers means towards. It focuses on the direction, not necessarily on reaching the destination.

Nous marchons vers le centre-ville.
- We walk towards downtown (we may or may not actually arrive).

Compare:

Nous marchons au centre-ville.
- We walk to downtown (the idea is that we go there, we reach it).
Nous marchons jusqu’au centre-ville.
- We walk all the way to downtown (emphasizes going as far as that point).

So vers is more about heading in that direction.

Why is it le centre-ville and not something like au centre-ville?

In this sentence, le centre-ville is the object of the preposition vers:

vers + le centre-ville → towards downtown

If you said au centre-ville, that would be à + le centre-ville, meaning to downtown / in downtown, which usually suggests being in or going to that place, rather than just heading towards it.

So:

vers le centre-ville = towards downtown
au centre-ville = to downtown / in downtown (as a destination or location)

Why is centre-ville hyphenated, and what gender is it?

Centre-ville is written with a hyphen and is treated as a single noun meaning city center / downtown.

It is masculine singular.
That’s why the article is le: le centre-ville.

You might also see:

en centre-ville (especially in France, a bit more formal)
dans le centre-ville

But when you use an article, you use le, because centre-ville is masculine.

Why is it après le travail and not just après travail like English “after work”?

In English you say after work with no article.
In French, when travail refers to your period of work (your workday), you normally use the definite article: le travail.

après le travail = after (the) work / after work (after the workday)

If you said après travail, it would sound wrong or at least very odd in normal French.

You can also hear more colloquial versions:

après le boulot = after work (informal)

Could I put après le travail at the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Word order is flexible for these time expressions.

Both are correct:

Nous marchons vers le centre-ville après le travail.
Après le travail, nous marchons vers le centre-ville.

Putting Après le travail first simply emphasizes the time: It’s after work that we walk downtown.

Does après le travail mean after work today or after work in general?

On its own, après le travail can mean either, depending on context:

Habitual action (in general):
- Nous marchons vers le centre-ville après le travail.
  - We (usually) walk downtown after work.
Specific occasion (today/one day):
- In the right context (talking about today), it can mean after work today.

French present tense and time expressions are often interpreted by context, not by a special tense form.

What’s the difference between marcher and aller here? Could I say Nous allons vers le centre-ville?

Yes, you can say Nous allons vers le centre-ville, but there is a nuance:

marcher = to walk (specifically on foot)
aller = to go (without specifying how: walk, drive, take the bus, etc.)

So:

Nous marchons vers le centre-ville.
- We’re walking toward downtown (the mode of movement is clear).
Nous allons vers le centre-ville.
- We’re going toward downtown (no info about whether it’s on foot, by car, etc.).

In this sentence, marchons emphasizes that walking is the means of getting there.

How do you pronounce marchons and centre-ville?

Approximate pronunciations (in English-friendly terms):

marchons → “mar-shon”
- mar like mar in margin (but shorter)
- ch like sh in shoe
- ons is nasal, a bit like on in song but without pronouncing the final n clearly.
centre-ville → “sahntr v eel”
- cen like san (nose sound, not “sen”)
- tre with a very light r, roughly “tr(uh)” but short
- ville like veel

More precise IPA:

marchons: /maʁ.ʃɔ̃/
centre-ville: /sɑ̃tʁə.vil/

Could I replace nous with on here?

Yes, in everyday spoken French, on often replaces nous as the subject meaning we.

On marche vers le centre-ville après le travail.

This sounds more natural and colloquial than Nous marchons… in conversation.

Grammatically:

nous marchons (1st person plural)
on marche (3rd person singular verb form, but meaning “we”)

What is the infinitive of marchons, and how is it conjugated?

The infinitive is marcher (to walk). It’s a regular -er verb. Present tense:

je marche – I walk / I am walking
tu marches – you walk (singular, informal)
il / elle / on marche – he / she / one / we walk(s)
nous marchons – we walk
vous marchez – you walk (plural or formal)
ils / elles marchent – they walk

So marchons is the nous form in the present tense.

Is there any reason it’s the present tense and not futur proche, like Nous allons marcher?

Both are possible, but they give slightly different impressions:

Nous marchons vers le centre-ville après le travail.
- Can mean a habit (we generally do this)
- Or a plan very close in time, depending on context.
Nous allons marcher vers le centre-ville après le travail.
- Emphasizes the near future: we are going to walk toward downtown after work (a planned future action).

If the meaning shown to the learner is “We walk / we are walking toward downtown after work” in a general or neutral way, the simple present nous marchons is the standard choice.