En août, nous préférons rester au village, où les rues sont plus calmes qu’au centre-ville.

In French, en is commonly used with months, seasons, and years to mean in.

• en août = in August
• en été = in summer
• en 2026 = in 2026

So En août is the normal way to say in August.

The word août is simply spelled that way in standard French. The circumflex is part of the correct spelling.

In pronunciation, août is usually pronounced like one syllable, roughly oot. The circumflex does not usually change the meaning here; it is mainly an orthographic feature of the word.

Because nous préférons is the conjugated verb: it means we prefer.

The infinitive is préférer = to prefer.
When you conjugate it with nous, it becomes nous préférons.

Examples:

• Je préfère = I prefer
• Tu préfères = you prefer
• Nous préférons = we prefer

So préférons agrees with the subject nous.

This is a common pattern with verbs like préférer.

Some forms use è:

• je préfère
• tu préfères
• ils préfèrent

But nous and vous forms keep é:

• nous préférons
• vous préférez

This happens because of stress patterns in French verb conjugation. It is something learners usually just memorize as part of the verb pattern.

After a conjugated verb like préférer, French often uses a second verb in the infinitive.

So:

• nous préférons rester = we prefer to stay

This is the same basic idea as in English:

• We prefer to stay

Other examples:

• Je veux partir = I want to leave
• Nous aimons voyager = We like to travel

Because village is a masculine singular noun, and French contracts à + le into au.

So:

• à + le village → au village

This contraction is required.

Similar examples:

• au parc = to/in the park
• au cinéma = to/at the movie theater

Here it means in the village or at the village, depending on context.

French à / au / en can express location as well as destination, so rester au village means to stay in the village.

For example:

• Je suis au bureau = I am at the office
• Nous restons au village = We are staying in the village

Où is a relative pronoun meaning where.

It refers back to le village:

• au village, où les rues...
• in the village, where the streets...

It links the second part of the sentence to the place already mentioned.

Other examples:

• la ville où j’habite = the town where I live
• la maison où il est né = the house where he was born

The comma helps separate the main statement from the extra descriptive clause:

• En août, nous préférons rester au village
• où les rues sont plus calmes qu’au centre-ville

This kind of clause gives additional information about the village. In English, you would also very often use a comma before where in a similar sentence.

Because calmes is an adjective describing les rues, which is plural.

In French, adjectives usually agree with the noun they describe in gender and number.

• singular masculine: calme
• singular feminine: calme
• plural masculine/feminine: calmes

Since rues is plural, the adjective must also be plural:

• les rues sont calmes
• les rues sont plus calmes

This is the standard French pattern for a comparison of superiority:

• plus + adjective + que = more ... than

So:

• plus calmes que = calmer than / more quiet than

Examples:

• plus grand que = taller/bigger than
• plus intéressant que = more interesting than

In this sentence:

• les rues sont plus calmes qu’au centre-ville means the streets are calmer than they are in the city center.

Because que becomes qu’ before a vowel sound, and au begins with a vowel sound.

So:

• que + au → qu’au

This shortening is very common in French:

• qu’il
• qu’elle
• qu’en
• qu’au

It is just normal elision.

Centre-ville means city center or downtown.

It is commonly written with a hyphen in French because it is a fixed compound noun:

• le centre-ville

So:

• au centre-ville = in the city center / downtown

Yes, but the nuance is slightly different.

• au village is the most natural general expression for being/staying in the village as a place.
• dans le village emphasizes being inside the village area more physically.

In this sentence, rester au village sounds more idiomatic and natural.

French often describes a place through its features, and les rues sont plus calmes is a very natural way to do that.

It focuses on the streets themselves being quieter/calmer.
A sentence with il y a moins de bruit would also be possible, but it would shift the emphasis to noise level rather than to the streets.

So this sentence is highlighting a characteristic of the village:

• the streets are calmer there.