Je vais à l’université avant que le cours de français ne commence.

Je vais is the present tense, and in French the present can often cover ideas that English expresses as either:

• I go
• I am going

So depending on context, Je vais à l’université... can sound like a routine, a plan, or something currently happening.

If you specifically wanted I will go, you could say j’irai. But French often uses the present where English might expect a future or progressive form.

Because université is:

• feminine singular
• starting with a vowel sound

Normally, you would have à la université, but French does not like that vowel clash, so la becomes l’:

• à + la université → à l’université

So this is not the same kind of contraction as à + le = au. It is elision: la becomes l’ before a vowel.

French usually keeps the article here. So:

• aller à l’université
• literally: to go to the university
• natural meaning: to go to university / to college

French generally uses articles more often than English, especially with places and institutions.

Avant by itself is usually a preposition, like before in:

• avant le cours = before the class

But when a whole clause follows, French uses avant que:

• avant que le cours commence = before the class starts

So que introduces the second clause.

Use avant de + infinitive when the subject stays the same.

Example:

• Je mange avant de partir.
• I eat before leaving.

Here, I do both actions.

Use avant que + clause when there is a separate verb clause, often with its own subject.

In your sentence:

• Je vais à l’université = subject: je
• le cours de français commence = subject: le cours de français

Because the second part is a full clause with its own subject, French uses avant que.

This ne is called the expletive ne.

It:

• does not make the sentence negative
• often appears after expressions like avant que
• is more common in careful, formal, or written French

So:

• avant que le cours commence
• avant que le cours ne commence

Both can mean the same thing here: before the French class starts.

This ne is stylistic/grammatical, not negative. If it were negative, you would normally expect something like ne ... pas.

In French, avant que is followed by the subjunctive because it refers to something that has not happened yet at the moment of the main action.

In the sentence:

• Je vais à l’université happens first
• le cours de français commence is still upcoming from that point of view

That kind of uncertainty or not-yet-realized event triggers the subjunctive after avant que.

Good question. For many -er verbs, the present subjunctive and the present indicative look identical in some forms.

For commencer:

• indicative: il commence
• subjunctive: qu’il commence

Same spelling, same pronunciation.

So in this sentence, you know it is subjunctive because of the grammar:

• avant que requires the subjunctive

If the verb were something less regular, the difference would be easier to see. For example:

• avant qu’il est ❌
• avant qu’il soit ✅

Here soit clearly shows the subjunctive.

Le cours de français means the French class or the French course.

Structure:

• le cours = the class/course
• de français = of French / French

French often uses de + subject/topic to show what the class is about:

• un cours de mathématiques = a math class
• un cours d’histoire = a history class
• un cours de français = a French class

Because after cours de, the subject name usually appears without an article.

So French says:

• un cours de français
• un professeur de français

not:

• un cours du français (unless you mean something more specific, which is different)

Here français is being used as the name of the subject/language, so no article is needed.

It can mean either, depending on context.

In this sentence, le cours de français most naturally means:

• the French class
• or the French lesson/session

In other contexts, cours can also refer to a broader course of study. French uses the same word more flexibly than English does.

A careful pronunciation would be roughly:

zhuh vay ah loo-nee-ver-see-tay ah-vahn kuh luh koor duh frahn-say nuh koh-mahns

A few useful notes:

• Je sounds like zhuh
• vais sounds like vay
• à l’université flows together smoothly
• avant has a nasal vowel: ah-vahn
• que is usually a light kuh
• the ne here is often very light, and in casual speech it may even be dropped entirely in this structure

So in everyday speech, many people would say something very close to:

Je vais à l’université avant que le cours de français commence.