Articles for Places

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rebonjour

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Hey!!

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Articles for Places

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Countries, states/regions: Au before masculine ones and en before feminine ones and masculine ones starting with a vowel, aux before plural ones.
Towns: Only à (eventually combined with the article in the name to form au or aux).

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So like

Je viens Au Canada

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In some cases like islands, à may be used.

Je viens au Canada = I come to Canada.

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oh

J'ai vien au Canada?

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Venir uses être and has venu as its past participle, so: je suis venu(e) au Canada.

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so, for countries, as in France, Germany, the US, etc. the rules is as follows.

aller
au for masculin
en for féminin
aux for plural
à for the rare cases a country doesn't take an article

exemples

je vais au Royaume-Uni
je vais en France
je vais aux États-Unis

je viens au Canada
je viens en Italie
je viens aux États-Unis

venir
du for masculin
de for féminin
des for plural

exemple

je viens du Royaume-Uni
je viens de France
je viens des États-Unis

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Ouganda is masculine yet uses en. Je vais en Ouganda.

Naturally, when du is used, it turns into de l' before Ouganda.

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yes because saying a__u__ __O__uganda would force a double voyel which is prohibited

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Je vais aller au Canada
Je vais aller en Mauritanie
Je vais aller aux Royaume-Uni
Like this??

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Royaume-Uni is singular, so au.

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royaume-uni is masculin singular

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oh

ok then

Je vais aller aux Etats-Unis?

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There are countries with plural name such as États-Unis and Pays-Bas. Seychelles and Comores too.

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Does Du, De, Des mean from

as in I come from

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yes

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Yep.

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hmm

Where can à be used?

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D'où venez-vous?
Je viens du Canada.

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when a country doesnt take an article

they are rare

i cant think of an example but I can find you an article onine about it

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1 sec Ill find one right now

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Singapour is one. je vais à Singapour.

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oh

and can à also be used for like

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https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/geographical-prepositions-continents-countries/

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Je vais aller à Canada?

because it means to?

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Nope.

Au Canada is the correct one.

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https://www.lawlessfrench.com/vocabulary/countries-and-continents/

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oh ok

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Canada takes an article.

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thx

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no, don't get confused

canada is maslucin, so le
à + le = au

so au Canada

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OH

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there is an exception in the feminin

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so countries take

à + either le, la, les?

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because à + la = à la, but we say en

its an exception

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yes in normal french, yes

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what does à + la =?

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but as i said for countried the feminin is an exception, both when going and when coming

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and à + Les=

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à la

it doesnt contract

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oh

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aux

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À la. It's just that. The contraction doesn't exist for this combination.

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so like Je vais aller à La France?

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non

its an exception

we say en

in this case

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oh

when would

à la be used

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jusr for countries tho

though

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En France. As Reiwa said, countries with feminine names are an exception.

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à la supermarche?

with an accent

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je vais à la boulangerie

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Au supermarché, it's masculine.

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au supermarché

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ohhh

ok I get it now

Je vais à l'ecole?

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Yep.

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we only use

à + la = en
and
de + la = de
for countries

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parfait!!

sorry typo

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so En, Au, and Aux are for countries?

as in going?

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right

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and from

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and du, de, and des are for coming from as de means from

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Je viens De, Du, and Des?

yea

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exacte

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what about cities and provinces?

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je viens de le Royaume-Uni → je viens du Royaume-Uni

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Provinces follow the same rule as countries.
Cities only use à.

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no matter the gender?

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right

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Je vais à Paris?

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Yup.

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je vais à Paris

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You should read this article and its annexes which give all the details https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/geographical-prepositions/

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Je vais au Caire as the town is called le Caire.

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i already sent it 🙂 🥰

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Ah haha

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Thank you guys so much!

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j'habite à Londres

etc

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Very long thread just got in heee

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oh

J'habite à Toronto for example?

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oui!

🙂

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Thank you so much

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you're more than welcome 🙂

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FROM:
De, Du, Des

TO:
à, Au, Aux

IN:
En, ?, ?

i forgot the last one

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dans?

im not sure what youre thinking of

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Like for J'habite

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well if its for a country you use the rules we discussed and if its for a city, you use à

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J'habite au Japon, j'habite en France, j'habite à Paris.

Same rules as above.

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j'habite au Canada
j'habite à Montréal

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oh ok!

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and, of course, for all other places — the supermarket, school, etc.

à + le = au
à + la = à la (no contraction)
à + les = aux

de + le = du
de + la = de la (no contraction)
de + les = des

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J'habite en France

J'habite à Paris?

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Exactly.

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parfait!!

im sorry i have to go

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Thanks again!

yeah no problem

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🙏

good luck!

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Have a wonderful day

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You too!

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you too!

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Just to add since I saw « de » mentioned here for countries but not explained, there’s also an exception for feminine singular countries and those starting with a vowel: the definite article disappears. Example:
—Je viens du Royaume-Uni (de + le Royaume-Uni)
—Je viens des Pays-Bas (de + les Pays-Bas)
—Je viens de France / d’Irak (de + la France / de * ~~l’~~Irak)