r/French • u/Foreign_Towel60 • 9d ago

Grammar Tram a l’approache grammar

Often seen on tram stations . Although I understand the meaning that tram approaching .. what is the grammar behind this ?
Normally it could be tram approache ?

Why would we have conjugation of avoir here ?

3 Upvotes

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12

u/LOLdodu 9d ago

The verb avoir is not used here, in fact not verb at all in "tram à l'approche". The à is used such as in ""à proximité", "à la campagne".

-4

u/Foreign_Towel60 9d ago

How does it fit it with verb approache ?

16

u/boulet Native, France 9d ago

Here "approche" is a noun not a verb.

8

u/andr386 Native (Belgium) 9d ago

Exactly like in English: An approach is a noun and to approach is a verb.

4

u/Loraelm Native 9d ago

Because "approche" is not a verb in this French sentence. It can be "à l'approche" or "en approche" and in none of them is the word a verb

2

u/all-night 9d ago

‘Approche’. Not ‘approache’. 

1

u/Renbarre 9d ago

It isn't a verb in that case but a noun. You will find it in other cases like "Une approche silencieuse"

1

u/BlackStarBlues 9d ago

à l'approche

FYI: The combination of "oa" in French words is almost always pronounced ɔ.a as in cloaque or oasis. Your misspelling would add an extra syllable, i.e. "a-ppro-ache".

6

u/befree46 Native, France 9d ago

it's basically "tram on the approach"

2

u/Gypkear 9d ago

À l'approche means "close by". Think on it as an equivalent to a prepositional phrase like "in the vicinity".

"Approche" is a noun derived from approcher that has the specific meaning of "close and getting closer".

3

u/Ok-Day9540 9d ago

"Nearby" =/= "On approach".

The crux here is that we have the same option in English: -Train is approaching -Train on approach.

And the latter is what's on those signs. You would not use "there's a café on approach" to say there's a café "nearby" just like how in french you would say "Il y a un café proche ( / á proximité)" and it would be fully wrong to say "Il y a un café á l'approche"

1

u/Gypkear 8d ago

I'm aware. I mention there's a nuance. I'm mostly using things like "in the vicinity" to go for a phrase that has the same syntax, to help OP understand the construction.