What does “les courses” mean in French?

In French, les courses means the grocery shopping, not “races” or school “courses.” You say faire les courses to mean “to do the food shopping” or to do other small shopping tasks. It is the regular trip for food and household things, like going to the supermarket. The singular une course can still mean a race, so the context tells you which meaning applies.

In this radio segment about rising food prices, the expert warns: “septembre sera rouge pour les courses du quotidien” — “September will be red [a warning sign] for everyday grocery shopping.” Here les courses clearly means the food and household things you buy each week, not a race. This is a useful near-false-friend. The English words “course” and “race” look similar, but in the plural with faire, the phrase points only to food and household shopping. French keeps shopping types apart: faire les courses is your regular food shopping, while faire du shopping or faire les magasins is the enjoyable kind — clothes, browsing. Examples: Je dois faire les courses ce soir (“I have to do the grocery shopping tonight”); Tu peux mettre le lait sur la liste de courses? (“Can you put milk on the shopping list?”).