Prepositions with geographic names
In English we use the prepositions “to” and “from” with geographic names.
For example:
“I am going to France.”
“I come from America.”
In French, you use an article when talking about a continent, country, or state depending on the
gender of the location. (le, la, l’, les).
For example:
J’admire le Canada.
La France est belle.
Elle quitte l’Amérique.
There are only very few countries that use a plural article as in:
Ils visitent les États-Unis.
Elles préfèrent les Antilles.
Cities do not carry gender. You do not use an article with the name of a city.
For example:
Nous aimons Paris.
Nous allons à Nice.
Some verbs indicate movement to or from a location. These verbs are typically used with a
preposition. Some of these verbs include arriver, aller, être, rentrer, retourner, revenir, venir.
To determine the appropriate preposition, you must pay attention to the gender of the place and the
context of the sentence, meaning whether you want to say “to” or “from.”
Determining the gender of a country is fairly simple. If the word ends in e it is usually feminine.
For example:
La Chine
La Belgique
La Suède
There are only three exceptions to this rule. On dit:
Le Mexique
Le Cambodge
Le Zaïre
© 2011 Middlebury Interactive Languages. All rights reserved. This material is intended for the exclusive use of registered users only. No portion of these
materials may be reproduced or redistributed in any form without the express permission of Middlebury Interactive Languages.
Every state name in America is considered to be masculine as in le Texas.
If the state has been frenchified, the word will be feminine.
For example:
La Californie
La Louisianne
Now that you know the gender of the place, refer to this chart to determine which preposition to use. If
an island is a country, it will follow the normal rules for masculine or feminine names, but if an island is
a state, it will follow the rules for an island.
An island
Names of cities
Feminine and Masculine
names beginning with a vowel
Masculine names
Plural names, either gender
Masculine states beginning
with a consonant
Masculine states beginning
with a vowel
French for “to,” “in,” or “at”
à
Je vais… / Je suis… à Maui.
à
Je vais… / Je suis… à Madrid.
en
Je vais… / Je suis… en Italie
au
Je vais… / Je suis… au Brésil
aux
Je vais… / Je suis… aux Antilles
dans le or au
Je vais… / Je suis… dans le Nevada
Je vais… / Je suis… au Texas
dans l’ or en
Je vais… / Je suis… dans l’Illinois
Je vais… / Je suis… en Oregon
French for of “from”
de
Je viens de Maui.
de or d’
Je viens de Londres.
de or d’
Je viens d’Angola.
du
Je viens du Congo
des
Je viens des Philippines
du
Je viens du Colorado
de l’ or d’
Je viens d’Arizona
Je viens de l’Ohio
Now practice using the proper preposition to talk about going to and coming from locations all over
the world.
© 2011 Middlebury Interactive Languages. All rights reserved. This material is intended for the exclusive use of registered users only. No portion of these
materials may be reproduced or redistributed in any form without the express permission of Middlebury Interactive Languages.