Après le travail, nous allons au centre-ville en tram.

In French, a general noun like travail usually takes an article. So après le travail is the normal way to say after work.

English often drops the article in expressions like after work, but French usually does not. Compare:

• après le déjeuner = after lunch
• après l'école = after school
• après le travail = after work

Dropping the article here would sound unnatural in standard French.

Nous allons is the present tense of aller.

In this sentence, it means we go or we are going, depending on context. French present tense often covers both ideas.

It does not mean we are going to in the future-expression sense here, because that structure would need an infinitive after aller, for example:

• Nous allons partir = We are going to leave

But in nous allons au centre-ville, au centre-ville is a destination, not an infinitive verb.

Because à + le contracts to au in French.

So:

• à + le = au
• à + les = aux

Since the noun is le centre-ville, you get:

• aller au centre-ville

You cannot normally say à le centre-ville.

The verb aller normally uses à to mark a destination.

So you say:

• aller à Paris
• aller au bureau
• aller au centre-ville

It works like saying where someone goes to. English often needs to, but French usually just uses aller à.

Because au centre-ville focuses on the destination: going downtown / to the city center.

Dans le centre-ville would emphasize being inside the downtown area. It is more about location than destination.

So:

• Nous allons au centre-ville = We are going downtown
• Nous sommes dans le centre-ville = We are in the downtown area

French often prefers à / au after aller when talking about a destination.

Because centre-ville is a fixed compound noun in standard French spelling.

The hyphen shows that the two words function together as one unit meaning city center / downtown.

You will very commonly see:

• le centre-ville
• au centre-ville

So for learners, the safest form to use is the hyphenated one.

French often uses en for means of transport.

So you get patterns like:

• en bus
• en train
• en tram
• en voiture

That is why en tram means by tram.

A useful contrast:

• en tram = by tram, as a means of transport
• dans le tram = in the tram, physically inside it

Yes. Tram is the everyday short form of tramway.

Both are correct:

• en tram
• en tramway

En tram is very common in normal speech and writing. En tramway sounds a bit more formal or more explicit.

Not strictly.

The comma is used because Après le travail is an introductory phrase. French, like English, often separates that kind of phrase with a comma for clarity.

So both are acceptable:

• Après le travail, nous allons au centre-ville en tram.
• Après le travail nous allons au centre-ville en tram.

The version with the comma is a little easier to read.

Yes, on is very common in spoken French.

So you could also say:

• Après le travail, on va au centre-ville en tram.

The difference is mainly style and register:

• nous allons = more formal, more standard in writing
• on va = very common in everyday spoken French

Both can mean we go / we are going.

It could be either. The French present tense often does both jobs.

Depending on context, this sentence could mean:

• a routine: After work, we go downtown by tram
• a current or planned action: After work, we’re going downtown by tram

French often leaves that distinction to context instead of changing the verb form.

Yes, there is normally a liaison.

Nous allons is typically pronounced something like noo-zah-lon.

What happens is:

• the s in nous is normally silent
• but before a vowel sound, it is pronounced like z

So:

• nous alone → roughly noo
• nous allons → roughly noo-zah-lon

That liaison is very natural and expected in careful standard French.