Look at these sentences:
Tous les jours, je me lève à 6 heures.
Every day, I wake up at 6.
Les lions mangent de la viande.
Lions eat meat.
Le téléphone sonne.
The phone rings.
Notice that le Présent is used to refer to current actions, timeless facts and habitual actions. In these examples, it translates to the Present tense in English*.
*but be aware as this is not always the case! It can also imply Present Continuous or Immediate Future actions depending on context - see these other lessons:
Using Le Présent for immediate/near future actions
Using Le Présent for ongoing actions where English uses Present Continuous
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Les lions mangent de la viande.
Lions eat meat.
Tous les jours, je me lève à 6 heures.
Every day, I wake up at 6.
Le téléphone sonne.
The phone rings.
Current actions
Je suis dans la douche
I am in the shower
Habitual actions
Je prends le train tous les matins
I take the train every morning
Timeless facts
La lune tourne autour de la Terre
The moon goes round the Earth
Q&A
Celine
Kwiziq community member
3 March 2018
4 replies
Vendredi and Le Vendredi
Hi, I'm having a problem understanding why "Pierre is taking the train on Friday" is wrong. I see the correct answer is "Pierrs takes the train on Fridays", but the "explain this" is not really explaining it for me as the only difference is the "le" vendredi. Can you explain why please when you get a chance. Thanks a mil, Celine
Chris
Kwiziq community member
5/03/18
Hi Celine,
in French, the article in front of a weekday signifies that this happens all days, not just the one.
Samedi je joue aux cartes. -- Saturday I play cards.
Le samedi je joue aux cartes. -- SaturdayS I play cards.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
29/06/18
Hi Céline,
The difference between:
Pierre prend le train vendredi = Pierre is taking the train on Friday
(meaning this Friday)
and
Pierre prend le train le vendredi = Pierre takes the train on Fridays (meaning every Friday).
We use le + day of the week for something you do regularly on that day.
Hope this helps!
Tarsila
Kwiziq community member
10/11/18
Hello! Would that be correct? (meaning every Friday)
Pierre prend le train les vendredis.
thank you!
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
28/11/18
Hi Tarsila,
You would have to add 'tous' -
Pierre prend le train tous les vendredis.
or
Pierre prend le train le vendredi.
meaning the same thing.
Hope this helps!
carole
Kwiziq community member
21 March 2019
3 replies
autour de
- i was told that it is always autour DE (by a french conversation teacher), Is this something that is so commonly used incorrectly that it has become acceptable over time? (in one of your examples, and in others from other sites, it is autour DE LA lune, or autour DU monde.)
Jim
Kwiziq community member
21 March 2019
21/03/19
I don't understand why it would be described as something used incorrectly.
"Autour" is an adverb
"Autour de" is a preposition
So to write "autour de la lune" would express "around the moon" and autour du (de le) monde would express "around the world"
Hope that this will help?
carole
Kwiziq community member
21 March 2019
21/03/19
thanks.
i'm just confused as to when DE always remains DE and when it sometimes goes to "DE, D', DE LA, DES"
Chris
Kwiziq community member
22 March 2019
22/03/19
The forms of "de" you quote are all contractions with whatever comes afterwards. For example:
de le = du, de les = des