Je prends le tram pour aller à l'université.

Because je needs a conjugated verb, not the infinitive.

The infinitive is prendre = to take.
In this sentence, the verb has to agree with je (I), so it becomes:

• je prends = I take

This is the present tense form of prendre.

A few present tense forms are:

• je prends
• tu prends
• il / elle prend
• nous prenons
• vous prenez
• ils / elles prennent

So Je prends le tram means I take the tram.

Here, prendre means to take in the sense of to use a form of transport.

So:

• prendre le tram = to take the tram
• prendre le bus = to take the bus
• prendre le train = to take the train
• prendre le métro = to take the metro/subway

It does not mean to grab physically in this sentence. It means to travel by that method.

In French, you usually need an article before a noun, much more often than in English.

So French says:

• le tram
• le bus
• le train
• la voiture

Even when English would often say just by tram or on the tram, French commonly uses the article with prendre:

• prendre le tram
• prendre le bus

So Je prends le tram is the normal French way to say I take the tram.

Yes. Le tram is a common short form of le tramway.

Both are masculine:

• le tram
• le tramway

In everyday speech, tram is very common and natural.

Pour here means to or in order to, and after pour, French normally uses an infinitive if the subject stays the same.

So:

• pour aller = to go / in order to go

In the sentence:

• Je prends le tram pour aller à l'université.
• I take the tram to go to university.

A more natural English translation is often just I take the tram to the university / to university, but French often keeps the idea of purpose very clearly with pour + infinitive.

Because after pour, French uses the infinitive.

So you get:

• pour aller = to go
• pour manger = to eat
• pour étudier = to study

You would not say pour je vais here.

A useful pattern is:

• Je fais quelque chose pour + infinitive
• I do something in order to + verb

Example:

• Je prends le tram pour aller à l'université.
• I take the tram in order to go to university.

Because université begins with a vowel sound, and in French la becomes l' before a vowel.

So:

• la université → l'université

This is called elision.

Other examples:

• la école → l'école
• le ami → l'ami
• je aime → j'aime

Since université is feminine, the full article is la, but before the vowel u, it changes to l'.

Here, à means to or at, depending on context.

With verbs of movement like aller, à is used to show destination:

• aller à l'université = to go to the university / to university
• aller à Paris = to go to Paris
• aller au cinéma = to go to the cinema

So in this sentence:

• pour aller à l'université = to go to university

French often does not use a possessive adjective when the meaning is already clear from context.

So à l'université can naturally mean:

• to the university
• to university
• sometimes effectively to my university, depending on context

If you really want to stress my university, you could say:

• à mon université

But that is often unnecessary and can sound more specific or contrastive than English my university.

Yes. A very common alternative is:

• Je vais à l'université en tram.

This also means I go to university by tram or I go to the university by tram.

The difference is mainly one of focus:

• Je prends le tram pour aller à l'université.
  Focuses more on taking the tram as the action.
• Je vais à l'université en tram.
  Focuses more on going to the university, with en tram giving the means of transport.

Both are natural.

Because this sentence uses the expression prendre le tram.

In French, transport can often be expressed in two different ways:

1. prendre + article + transport

   • prendre le tram
   • prendre le bus
   • prendre le train

2. en + transport

   • en tram
   • en bus
   • en train

So both of these are possible:

• Je prends le tram pour aller à l'université.
• Je vais à l'université en tram.

They are both correct; they are just built differently.

Yes. Université is a feminine noun.

So you get:

• une université
• l'université

And with adjectives:

• une grande université
• l'université française

This matters because the article and adjective forms must match the gender of the noun.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

Je prends le tram pour aller à l'université
≈ zhuh prahn luh tram poor ah-lay ah lee-nee-vair-see-tay

A few useful notes:

• je sounds like zhuh
• prends has a nasal vowel; the -ds is not fully pronounced like in English
• tram is close to the English word, but with a more French a
• aller sounds like ah-lay
• à l'université links smoothly together in speech

You may also hear the whole sentence spoken quite fluidly, with à l'université sounding almost like one chunk.

Yes. Je prends is present tense.

In French, the present tense can mean:

• something happening right now
• a habit or routine

So this sentence could mean:

• I am taking the tram to go to university
  if you are talking about what is happening now
• I take the tram to go to university
  if you are describing your usual routine

Context tells you which meaning is intended.