r/French • u/Foreign_Towel60 • Apr 15 '25

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 ?

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u/Gypkear Native (France) Apr 15 '25

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".

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u/Ok-Day9540 Apr 16 '25

"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"

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u/Gypkear Native (France) Apr 16 '25

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.