travaillent

Travaillent is the third person plural present indicative form of the French verb travailler, meaning to work or to be employed. It is used with the subject ils or elles to indicate that a group of people is performing work in the present tense. For example, ils travaillent in a factory or elles travaillent sur un projet commun.

Grammatically, travailler is a regular -er verb. In the present tense its forms are: je travaille, tu travailles, il/elle/on travaille, nous travaillons, vous travaillez, ils/elles travaillent. The ending -ent in travaillent marks the third person plural, while the stem travaill- remains visible across the present conjugation.

Etymology and meaning: the verb travailler is closely linked to the noun travail, which means work or labor. The word travail comes from Old French and ultimately traces back to Latin roots associated with labor and effort. The connection between the verb and the noun reflects the core sense of exertion involved in work.

Usage notes: in French, the present tense is commonly used to express ongoing actions that in English might be rendered with the present continuous. Therefore, ils travaillent can convey “they are working” as well as “they work.” The form is also found in various contexts related to employment, production, or general activity, such as ils travaillent pour une entreprise or les machines travaillent correctement.

Related forms include the noun travail, adjectives like travailleur/travailleuse (worker), and related verbs such as œuvrer. Travaillent should be distinguished from the noun travail and from other person forms of travailler to avoid ambiguity in sentence construction.