Table of Contents
Which prepositions to use in French?
LIST OF PREPOSITIONS IN FRENCH
| French preposition | English equivalent |
|---|---|
| avec | with |
| chez | at/to __’s house or place; on/from the area of, from/at __’s |
| contre | against |
| dans | in(side), into |
Is it de France or du France?
With masculine singular nouns → use du. With feminine singular nouns → use de la. With singular nouns starting with a vowel and some nouns beginning with h → use de l’. With plural nouns → use des.
What are the prepositions for countries in French?
In French, prepositions with countries and cities are going to change according to the rules below:
- for cities/towns/villages, use à:
- for feminine countries (countries ending with the letter -e), use en:
- for masculine countries (ie not ending with -e or -s), use au:
How do you use preposition in French in a sentence?
Using a prepositional phrase in a French sentence is very easy: Write the preposition followed by the noun and then place it where it makes sense in the rest of your sentence, which is in most cases after the verb.
Why is it not de la France?
“Je viens de la France” doesn’t have to mean you’re French. You may have been travelling around Europe, and your latest stay was in France. On reflection, that’s not right. It’s not “la France”, it’s “France” […].
Do you use articles with countries in French?
In French, we precede names of countries and continents with a definite article (le, la, l’, les). This is unlike English, which rarely uses articles before countries (the United States).
What are some prepositions in French with no English equivalent?
This table is by no means an exhaustive guide to French prepositions; in idiomatic usage, other prepositions may be used for a given meaning. Note also one preposition for which English has no specific prepositional equivalent: chez . Chez can be a preposition of direction or a preposition of situation, and corresponds to “to/at (my) place”.
What does the preposition de mean in French?
The preposition de also combines with the definite article (“the”), but not the indefinite articles “a/an”) un and une. De is one of the most commonly used prepositions, and is often used in the same way as “of” or “from” in English. For example, it can be used when talking about returning from somewhere or an object that’s from a certain place.
How do you say “he is in a country” in French?
In French the proper preposition for talking about being located in a country depends on the gender of the country. There are a few exceptions with country names that don’t follow the rules, but for most feminine countries, use en. For the majority of masculine countries, use the combination of à + le = au. Il est en France. He is in France.
Can English phrasal / prepositional verbs be translated into French?
This can be seen clearly by looking at some English phrasal / prepositional verbs , and how they can be translated into French. French does not have phrasal or prepositional verbs, so the defining prepositions (postpositions) or particles in the English expressions do not exist in the French versions (or are an integral element of the verb).