Learn Hardcore French: Le week‑end, Marie travaille comme photographe pour un petit journal local. - On weekends, Marie works as a photographer for a small local newspaper.

Le week‑end, Marie travaille comme photographe pour un petit journal local.

On weekends, Marie works as a photographer for a small local newspaper.

Breakdown of Le week‑end, Marie travaille comme photographe pour un petit journal local.

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Questions & Answers about Le week‑end, Marie travaille comme photographe pour un petit journal local.

Why is it Le week‑end and not Les week‑ends or just Week‑end?

In French, to talk about something that happens regularly on a certain day or time period, you usually use:

le
- singular time word

Examples:

Le lundi, je fais du sport. = On Mondays, I work out.
Le soir, il lit. = In the evenings, he reads.

So Le week‑end, Marie travaille… means On weekends / At the weekend, Marie works… in a habitual, general sense.

Les week‑ends is also possible, and it emphasizes the idea of each weekend.
- Les week‑ends, Marie travaille comme photographe… = Every weekend, Marie works as a photographer…
Writing Week‑end, Marie travaille… without any article is not idiomatic in French; you normally need le or les here.

Is week‑end masculine or feminine, and is this the only correct spelling?

Week‑end is masculine in French:
- le week‑end, un week‑end
Today, both spellings are accepted:
- le week‑end (with a hyphen)
- le weekend (without a hyphen; this is the modernized spelling)

Meaning and gender are the same; you just need to learn that it’s masculine and takes le or un.

Why does the sentence start with Le week‑end, and why is there a comma?

French often puts expressions of time at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis or clarity, just like English:

Le week‑end, Marie travaille…
Le matin, je bois du café.

The comma separates this time phrase (an adverbial phrase) from the main clause. You could also put it at the end:

Marie travaille comme photographe pour un petit journal local le week‑end.

Both word orders are correct; starting with the time phrase just highlights when it happens.

Why use Marie travaille comme photographe instead of Marie est photographe?

Both are possible, but the nuance is different:

Marie est photographe.
- States her profession/identity.
- Sounds like that’s her main job or career.
Marie travaille comme photographe (le week‑end).
- Focuses on the activity she does.
- Here, with Le week‑end, it suggests this might be a side job, weekend job, or a specific role she performs then.

So in this sentence, travaille comme photographe fits the idea that this is her weekend work, not necessarily her primary profession.

Why is there no article in comme photographe? Why not comme une photographe?

After comme meaning as + a profession or role, French usually omits the article when speaking in a general way:

Elle travaille comme photographe. = She works as a photographer.
Il a été engagé comme secrétaire. = He was hired as a secretary.

You add an article if you specify or qualify the noun:

Elle travaille comme une excellente photographe.
Il a été engagé comme un secrétaire temporaire.

In your sentence, comme photographe is general, so no article is used.

Could you say en tant que photographe instead of comme photographe?

Yes, but the nuance changes slightly:

comme photographe
- Very common, neutral, everyday.
- Simply means as a photographer (that’s the job she does).
en tant que photographe
- More formal or “official” in tone.
- Often used when talking about roles, functions, or positions:
  - En tant que photographe, elle est responsable des photos de l’événement.

In this sentence, en tant que photographe would be grammatically correct but sounds more formal. comme photographe is the most natural everyday choice.

How do you know Marie is female if photographe doesn’t change?

Many French profession nouns have the same form for men and women; they are called epicene nouns. Photographe is one of them.

A male photographer: un photographe
A female photographer: une photographe

In your sentence, there is no article before photographe, so you can’t see the grammatical gender there. You know she’s female because of the name Marie, which is a female first name in French.

If you added an article or an adjective, you’d see the feminine form:

Marie est une photographe professionnelle.
C’est une excellente photographe.

Why is it pour un petit journal local and not dans un petit journal local or à un petit journal local?

The choice of preposition changes the meaning:

travailler pour un journal
- Means to work for a newspaper (being employed by it, collaborating with it).
- Focus on the employer/organization.
travailler dans un journal
- Literally to work in a newspaper, i.e. in the company or its offices.
- More physical/location-based or industry-based nuance.
travailler à un journal
- Much less common and not idiomatic modern French for this meaning.

In your sentence, the idea is that Marie works for that local newspaper as a photographer, so pour un petit journal local is the most natural choice.

Why does petit come before journal, but local comes after?

French has two main types of adjectives for position:

Common “before” adjectives (often BAGS/BANGS: Beauty, Age, Goodness, Size, etc.) tend to come before the noun:
- un grand journal (a big newspaper)
- un bon livre (a good book)
Petit is one of these, so it goes before:
- un petit journal
More descriptive or specific adjectives usually come after the noun:
- un journal local (a local newspaper)
- un livre intéressant (an interesting book)

When you combine them, you often get:

un petit journal local
- petit (size/importance) before
- local (more descriptive) after

Why are the adjectives petit and local in the masculine singular form?

Adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

Here the noun is journal:

journal is masculine
journal is singular

So the adjectives must also be masculine singular:

masculine singular: petit, local
feminine singular: petite, locale
masculine plural: petits, locaux
feminine plural: petites, locales

Examples:

un petit journal local (one small local newspaper)
de petits journaux locaux (small local newspapers)
une petite entreprise locale (a small local company)

Does journal mean “journal” (like in English) or “newspaper” or “diary”?

Journal is a bit of a false friend:

journal very often means newspaper:
- un journal local = a local newspaper
- Je lis le journal. = I read the newspaper.
It can also mean a news programme on TV/radio:
- le journal télévisé = the TV news
It can mean diary, but usually with context:
- un journal intime = a diary / personal journal

In your sentence, un petit journal local clearly means a small local newspaper.

How can French travaille (present tense) mean “works at weekends” and not “is working this weekend”?

French present tense covers both:

English simple present (She works…)
English present continuous (She is working…)

The context Le week‑end indicates a habitual action, so Marie travaille comme photographe is understood as:

She works as a photographer on weekends.
She does this regularly.

If you wanted to insist on something happening right now/in progress, you’d usually add something like en ce moment or use être en train de:

En ce moment, Marie travaille comme photographe.
Marie est en train de travailler comme photographe pour un petit journal local. (more literal “is in the process of working”)

Could you also say Les week‑ends, Marie travaille comme photographe…? Is there any difference?

Yes, Les week‑ends, Marie travaille comme photographe… is correct too.

Nuance:

Le week‑end, Marie travaille…
- Very standard to express a regular weekend habit.
- Feels a bit more neutral/general.
Les week‑ends, Marie travaille…
- Emphasizes repetition: on weekends / every weekend.
- Slightly more explicit about each weekend being like that.

In everyday conversation, both forms can be used; the meaning is essentially the same.