A2
Prepositions with places
How French chooses between à, en, au and aux for places, and why cities and countries behave differently.
French uses one word for to and in with places, and picks it by what kind of place it is.
Cities take à
J’habite à Paris.
I-live at Paris
I live in Paris.
Je vais à Tokyo.
I go at Tokyo
I’m going to Tokyo.
One word covers both sentences. French does not distinguish being somewhere from going there.
Countries take en, au or aux
| feminine country | en France, en Espagne, en Chine |
| masculine country | au Japon, au Canada, au Portugal |
| plural country | aux États-Unis, aux Pays-Bas |
| country starting with a vowel | en Iran, en Israël |
Elle travaille au Japon.
she works at-the Japan
She works in Japan.
Je vais à la France.
Je vais en France.
Countries do not take à la. Feminine ones take en, with no article at all.
Nearly every country ending in -e is feminine
La France, l’Espagne, l’Italie, la Chine, la Russie. The main exception is le Mexique, and le Cambodge and le Zimbabwe follow it.
From somewhere takes de
And it follows the same gender split: de France, du Japon, des États-Unis, de Paris.
Il vient du Canada.
he comes of-the Canada
He’s from Canada.
Chez is for people
There is no English word for it. Chez means at someone’s home or place of business.
Je vais chez le médecin.
I go at-home-of the doctor
I’m going to the doctor’s.
On mange chez moi ?
one eats at-home-of me
Shall we eat at my place?
Chez moi, chez toi, chez elle — always with the stressed pronoun.