Expressing "to walk" with se promener/promener/marcher/aller à pied in French
In French, there are different ways to express the notion of "walking", depending on the context.
"To walk" in French
Marcher
Marcher is used to describe the action of walking in general, or the way a person walks:
Je marche dans la rue.I'm walking on the street.
Amélie marche très vite.Amélie walks very fast.
Il marche comme un zombie.He walks like a zombie.
Aller à pied
Aller à pied (literally going by foot) is used when walking is contrasted with another means of transport - walking instead of driving for example - and the destination you're getting to is always mentioned (like with aller used on its own):
Il va au travail à pied tous les jours.He walks to work every day.
Je voulais prendre le bus, mais finalement j'y suis allé à pied.I wanted to take the bus, but in the end I walked there.
Martine est allée à pied jusque chez Julien !Martine walked all the way to Julien's place!
Se promener
Se promener means to take a walk / to go for a walk / to wander around.
It's literally "to walk oneself" :
Je me promène dans le parc avec Julie.I'm taking a walk in the park with Julie.
Nous nous promenons dans les bois.We're wandering around in the woods.
Tous les matins, elle se promenait dans le jardin. Every morning, she would walk around the garden.
You can also use faire une promenade, faire une balade or se balader :
Je fais une promenade dans le parc avec Julie.I'm taking a walk in the park with Julie.
Je me balade dans le parc avec Julie.I'm taking a walk in the park with Julie.
Promener
Promener means to walk [someone/something] (i.e. a pet...):
Luc a promené son chien ce matin.Luc walked his dog this morning.
Quand j'étais petit, je promenais mon canard en bois partout.When I was small, I used to walk my wooden duck everywhere.
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