21ishak

[manic hemlock]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

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[ancient glade]

pretty much any time you're using a verb of movement

à la France would be like... if something belonged to France

[compact mirage]

Thank you

[wild magnet]

Usage of « en » instead of « à la » is because France is a feminine singular country

[solemn pilot]

Whenever a country or a region, province, etc. is feminine, en is used. We're talking about locations/destinations here.

Cities only use à.

[wild magnet]

Basically if you’re going into or within a place, the formula is « à + article + place ».
(1) Cities
The vast majority of cities don’t have articles so it’s just « à + place » like « à Paris, à Londres ».
(2) Countries
The gender of countries are determined by their ending. If it ends in E, it’s feminine with like six exceptions (Mexique, Mozambique, Cambodge, Bélize, Suriname, Zimbabwe).
So: « à + le Canada = au Canada, à + les États-Unis = aux États-Unis ».
The exception comes with feminine countries where instead of « à la », you get « en », so « à + la France » becomes « en France ». This exception also occurs with countries that start with a vowel. For example, « Iran » is a masculine country since it doesn’t end in the letter E but because it starts with a vowel, you say « en Iran » instead of « à l’Iran ».

For provinces they follow countries but « à + le » becomes « dans le ».

Tu vas où ?
– Au Royaume-Uni.
– Aux Seychelles.
– En Suisse.
– En Irak.