Nous voyageons en avion.

We travel by plane.

Breakdown of Nous voyageons en avion.

• nous: we
• voyager: to travel
• en avion: by plane

Questions & Answers about Nous voyageons en avion.

Why is it nous voyageons and not nous voyager?

Because voyageons is the conjugated form of the verb voyager in the present tense for nous (we).

• voyager = the infinitive, to travel
• nous voyageons = we travel / we are traveling

For regular -er verbs, the nous form in the present usually ends in -ons:

• nous parlons = we speak
• nous regardons = we watch
• nous voyageons = we travel

Why is there an extra e in voyageons?

That extra e is there to keep the g sound soft.

In French:

• g before a, o, u usually sounds hard, like in go
• g before e, i usually sounds soft, like the s in measure

Without the extra e, voyagons would suggest a hard g sound, which is wrong. So French writes voyageons to keep the soft sound.

The same thing happens in other verbs:

• manger → nous mangeons
• nager → nous nageons

What tense is voyageons?