Learn Hardcore French: Au centre‑ville, il aime traverser une rue piétonne avec une vieille fontaine. - Downtown, he likes to cross a pedestrian street with an old fountain.

Au centre‑ville is the normal way to say “in the city centre / downtown” in general, without focusing on the idea of being physically “inside” it like a container.

You might use dans le centre‑ville if you want to contrast being physically inside the central area versus outside it, but even then au centre‑ville is very common and completely correct.

What is the gender of centre‑ville and why is there a hyphen?

Centre‑ville is masculine: le centre‑ville.

It’s written with a hyphen because it’s a fixed compound noun (centre + ville) used as a single unit meaning “city centre / downtown”, not literally “centre of the city” (le centre de la ville).
You say au centre‑ville (à + le centre‑ville), not à la.

Examples:

J’habite en centre‑ville. – I live downtown.
Le centre‑ville est très animé. – The city centre is very lively.

Why is there a comma after Au centre‑ville?

Au centre‑ville is a location phrase placed at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis:

Neutral order: Il aime traverser une rue piétonne au centre‑ville.
Emphatic order: Au centre‑ville, il aime traverser une rue piétonne…

In French, it’s normal to separate such fronted phrases with a comma, especially in writing. It signals a short pause, similar to English:
In the city centre, he likes to cross…

Why is it il aime traverser and not il aime de traverser or something else?

In French, aimer is followed directly by an infinitive without a preposition:

il aime traverser – he likes to cross
il aime lire – he likes to read
il aime voyager – he likes to travel

*il aime de traverser is incorrect.

So the pattern is: aimer + infinitive (no de, no à).

What’s the difference between traverser and passer for “to cross / go through”?

Both can be used in movement contexts, but they’re not interchangeable.

traverser focuses on going from one side to the other, crossing through the whole width/length of something.
- traverser une rue – to cross a street
- traverser un pont – to cross a bridge
- traverser la ville – to go across the whole city
passer is more general: to pass, to go by, to go past.
- passer devant la fontaine – to go past the fountain
- passer par la rue piétonne – to go via the pedestrian street

In this sentence, traverser une rue piétonne correctly expresses crossing the street from one side to the other.

Why is it une rue piétonne and not une piétonne rue?

In French, the normal order is noun + adjective, unlike English:

une rue piétonne – a pedestrian street
un livre intéressant – an interesting book
un film français – a French film

So rue (noun) comes first, then piétonne (adjective).
*une piétonne rue is incorrect in French word order.

Why is piétonne feminine here?

Piéton / piétonne is an adjective that agrees with the noun it describes:

une rue is feminine singular → une rue piétonne
masculine singular: un quartier piéton – a pedestrian district
feminine plural: des rues piétonnes – pedestrian streets
masculine plural: des quartiers piétons

So the adjective takes ‑ne here to match rue (feminine).

Does avec une vieille fontaine mean he is crossing with a fountain, like carrying it?

No. Here avec means “with / that has / that includes”, expressing that the street features a fountain.

The sense is more like:

…une rue piétonne qui a une vieille fontaine.
…une rue piétonne où il y a une vieille fontaine.

So:
“In the city centre, he likes to cross a pedestrian street with an old fountain (in it / on it).”
– not “while holding a fountain.”

How should I understand avec in this structure? Can I always use it like “that has”?

Avec often works like “with” → “that has / that includes” when you describe a place or thing and an accompanying feature:

un jardin avec des fleurs – a garden with flowers (that has flowers)
une maison avec piscine – a house with a pool (that has a pool)
une place avec une grande fontaine – a square with a big fountain

In une rue piétonne avec une vieille fontaine, avec links the street to its characteristic (the fountain). You can’t use avec = that has in every context, but for describing objects/places and their features, it’s very common.

What’s going on with the adjective vieille? Why not vieux?

Vieux is an irregular adjective. Its main forms:

masculine singular: vieux (or vieil before a vowel sound)
- un vieux pont, un vieil arbre
feminine singular: vieille
- une vieille fontaine, une vieille maison
masculine plural: vieux
- de vieux bâtiments
feminine plural: vieilles
- de vieilles maisons

Here, fontaine is feminine singular (une fontaine) → the adjective must be vieille.

Why does vieille come before fontaine? Don’t French adjectives usually come after the noun?

Most adjectives come after the noun, but some common ones usually come before. Vieux / vieille is one of them.

Common adjectives that normally come before the noun (often called BANGS in textbooks: Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, Size):

beau, joli (beauty) – une belle maison
vieux, jeune, nouveau (age) – un vieux quartier
premier, deuxième (number/order) – la première rue
bon, mauvais, meilleur (goodness) – un bon café
grand, petit, gros, long (size) – une grande place

So une vieille fontaine follows this pattern: adjective of age before the noun.

Could the sentence use la rue piétonne instead of une rue piétonne?

Yes, but it would change the meaning slightly.

une rue piétonne – a (non‑specific) pedestrian street
- suggests any such street in the city centre; the exact one is not identified.
la rue piétonne – the pedestrian street
- suggests a particular, known pedestrian street, for example the main one everyone knows.

So:
Au centre‑ville, il aime traverser la rue piétonne avec une vieille fontaine.
= “In the city centre, he likes to cross the pedestrian street with an old fountain (that we both know about).”

Is there any nuance in Au centre‑ville, il aime… vs Il aime… au centre‑ville?

The basic meaning is the same, but the focus shifts.

Il aime traverser une rue piétonne au centre‑ville.
- neutral order; simple statement.
Au centre‑ville, il aime traverser une rue piétonne…
- puts extra emphasis on where this happens; the city centre is the setting you want to highlight first.

In spoken French, both are fine; the version with Au centre‑ville at the start sounds slightly more descriptive or narrative.

How do you pronounce il aime and traverser une in real speech?

In natural speech, there’s some linking and reduction:

il aime
- Often pronounced like [ilɛm] or even [i lɛm], sounding a bit like “eel‑em”.
traverser une
- Typically [tʁavɛʁseʁyn] in connected speech: the r of traverser flows into une, so you don’t pause between traverser and une.

You wouldn’t normally make a strong separation like traverser | une, it’s more fluid: traverserune (but still with the r clearly heard).