Nous marchons jusqu'à la gare.

We walk to the train station.

Breakdown of Nous marchons jusqu'à la gare.

• nous: we
• marcher: to walk
• la gare: the train station
• jusqu'à: until

Questions & Answers about Nous marchons jusqu'à la gare.

Why does the sentence start with nous?

Nous means we. It is the subject pronoun, so it tells you who is doing the action.

In Nous marchons jusqu'à la gare, nous is the group of people who are walking.

French subject pronouns are used much more regularly than in English, so saying nous here is completely normal.

What form is marchons?

Marchons is the present tense form of the verb marcher, which means to walk.

It is the nous form:

• je marche
• tu marches
• il / elle marche
• nous marchons
• vous marchez
• ils / elles marchent

So nous marchons means we walk or we are walking, depending on context.

Why does nous marchons mean both we walk and we are walking?

In French, the simple present tense often covers both ideas:

• a general action: we walk
• an action happening now: we are walking

So nous marchons can mean either one. French does not usually need a separate form like English are walking.

If the context is about something happening right now, French speakers will still often just use the present:

• Nous marchons jusqu'à la gare. = We are walking to the station.

What does jusqu'à mean here?

Jusqu'à means up to, as far as, or until, depending on context.

In this sentence, it shows the endpoint of the movement:

• jusqu'à la gare = up to the station / as far as the station

With movement, English often just says to, but French commonly uses jusqu'à to emphasize the destination as the limit or endpoint.

Why is it jusqu'à with an apostrophe?

This comes from jusque à, but French avoids that vowel clash, so jusque becomes jusqu' before à.

So:

• jusque + à → jusqu'à

This kind of shortening is called elision.

You will see the same thing in other common French forms:

• je aime → j'aime
• le ami → l'ami

Why is there both à and la in jusqu'à la gare?

Because they do different jobs:

• à is part of the prepositional expression jusqu'à
• la is the definite article meaning the
• gare means station

So:

• jusqu'à = up to / as far as
• la gare = the station

Together:

• jusqu'à la gare = as far as the station

Why does French say la gare instead of just gare?

French uses articles much more often than English does. In many places where English might leave out the, French still includes it.

So la gare is the normal way to say the station.

Just saying gare by itself would usually sound incomplete in this sentence.

What does gare mean exactly?

Gare usually means station, especially a train station.

So la gare normally means the train station unless the context suggests some other kind of station.

If French wants to be more specific, it can say:

• la gare ferroviaire = the railway station
• la gare routière = the bus station

But very often la gare by itself means the main train station.

Why use marcher instead of aller?

Because marcher specifically means to walk, while aller means to go more generally.

Compare:

• Nous marchons jusqu'à la gare. = We are walking to the station.
• Nous allons à la gare. = We are going to the station.

The first sentence tells you how you are getting there: on foot.

Could you also say Nous allons à la gare?

Yes, but it does not mean exactly the same thing.

• Nous marchons jusqu'à la gare focuses on the fact that we are walking
• Nous allons à la gare only says we are going to the station

So if you want to emphasize the method of travel, marchons is better.

What is the difference between jusqu'à la gare and à la gare?

They are close, but not always identical.

• à la gare simply means to the station or at the station, depending on context
• jusqu'à la gare means up to the station or as far as the station

Jusqu'à emphasizes the endpoint more strongly.

For many everyday situations involving movement, both may be understandable, but jusqu'à gives a clearer sense of going all the way to that point.

How is Nous marchons jusqu'à la gare pronounced?

A careful pronunciation would be roughly:

noo mar-shon zhus-kah lah gahr

A few useful notes:

• nous sounds like noo
• marchons ends with a nasal sound, so the on is not pronounced like English on
• jusqu'à has a zh sound at the start, like the s in measure
• gare has a hard g

In natural speech, French rhythm and linking matter, so listening to native audio is very helpful.

Is the s in nous pronounced here?

Normally, the s in nous is not pronounced on its own.

However, before a vowel sound, French often makes a liaison, so the s can link to the next word. Since marchons starts with m, there is no liaison here.

So:

• nous = basically noo
• nous avons would have liaison: noo-zavon

Can this sentence also mean We walk as far as the station?

Yes. Because of jusqu'à, the sentence can naturally suggest as far as the station.

Depending on context, English translations could include:

• We are walking to the station
• We walk to the station
• We are walking as far as the station

The exact English wording depends on what nuance the teacher or text wants to emphasize.