French grammar · A1 · Lesson 6
À, en, au, aux with cities and countries
For “in” or “to” a place, French uses à with cities (à Paris), en with feminine countries (en France), au with masculine countries (au Canada) and aux with plural ones (aux États-Unis). Most countries that end in -e are feminine.
Last updated:
How does it work?
Cities are easy: one word, à, for both “in” and “to”. J’habite à Paris, I live in Paris. Je vais à Chicago, I am going to Chicago. For “from”, use de: je suis de Paris.
Countries are nouns, so they have a gender and an article, just like le bateau and la mer. The French say la France, le Canada, les États-Unis, with the article, even when English uses none. That article decides the little word in front:
| in / to | from | |
|---|---|---|
| city | à Paris | de Paris |
| feminine country (la) | en France | de France, d’Italie |
| masculine country (le) | au Canada | du Canada |
| plural country (les) | aux États-Unis | des États-Unis |
How do you know the gender? A handy rule that works most of the time: if the country ends in -e, it is feminine (la France, l’Angleterre, l’Italie, l’Espagne). Everything else is masculine (le Canada, le Japon, le Portugal). There are a few rebels, like le Mexique, but very few.
Au and aux are not new words. They are à + le and à + les glued together, because French refuses to say “à le”. You will meet this gluing again in lesson 13.
Nationalities. As adjectives they take a small letter: Nelly est américaine. As nouns, meaning “a person from”, they take a capital: elle parle comme une Parisienne. Same word, two jobs, and the capital tells you which job it is doing.
What does it look like in the story?
These sentences come from lesson 6, “Miss Nelly”, where the narrator is crossing the Atlantic on the liner Provence with Arsène Lupin hidden among the passengers.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Nelly habite à Paris. | Nelly lives in Paris. |
| Le père de Nelly habite à Chicago, aux États-Unis. | Nelly’s father lives in Chicago, in the United States. |
| Lady Jerland habite à Londres, en Angleterre. | Lady Jerland lives in London, in England. |
Try it: With cities it is always à. But with countries the word changes: en Angleterre, aux États-Unis. What do you think decides it? Hint: think about lesson 1, and the little word that goes in front of every noun.
« Élevée à Paris par une mère française, elle rejoignait son père, le richissime Underdown, de Chicago. »
Raised in Paris by a French mother, she was on her way to join her father, the immensely rich Underdown of Chicago. Maurice Leblanc, L’Arrestation d’Arsène Lupin (1905).
How is it different from English?
English distinguishes “in” and “to” (I live in Paris, I go to Paris) but uses them the same way for every place. French does the opposite: it does not care whether you are in a place or going to it, but it does care what kind of place it is. City, feminine country, masculine country, plural country: four answers.
What mistake do English speakers make?
The classic slips: ✗ à France (France is a feminine country, so ✓ en France) and ✗ dans Paris (a translation of “in”; with cities French says ✓ à Paris). And the United States are plural, so ✗ en États-Unis becomes ✓ aux États-Unis. Pronounce it with a z sound in the middle: “o-zay-ta-zu-ni”.
Where can I practise it?
- Lesson 6: Miss Nelly: the story, the rule and interactive exercises, free.
- Review 2: lessons 6 to 10: this point again, in a summary table with the other lessons of the block.
- The A1 glossary: every word of the course, French to English.
← Regular -er verbs in the present tense · Negation: ne… pas, ne… rien, ne… jamais →