Prepositions with Countries in French

In Brief

Use à with cities, en with feminine countries and continents, au with masculine countries, and aux with plural countries. For movement from, the usual matching forms are de/d', du, and des: à Paris, en France, au Canada, aux États-Unis; de Paris, de France, du Canada, des États-Unis.

Overview

French does not use one direct equivalent of English “in” or “to” before every geographical name. The choice changes according to the kind of place—city, country, continent, or island—and, for countries, according to grammatical gender (the noun category called masculine or feminine) and number. That is why French says à Paris but en France, and au Canada but aux États-Unis.

This is an A1 pattern because it appears immediately in introductions, travel plans, addresses, and conversations about where people live or come from. The same place word normally uses the same preposition after verbs such as aller (to go), habiter (to live), être (to be), and travailler (to work). English distinguishes “to France” from “in France”; French generally uses en France for both destination and location.

The beginner system is regular once you learn each country together with its article: la France, le Canada, les États-Unis. Cities usually have no article and take à. A small group of islands, city names with articles, and other special names require separate attention; they are covered later without changing the core rule.

How It Works

The core choice for “in” and “to”

Type of place	Preposition	Pattern	Example
City	à	à + city	à Paris — in/to Paris
Feminine country	en	en + country	en France — in/to France
Masculine country beginning with a consonant	au	à + le → au	au Canada — in/to Canada
Plural country	aux	à + les → aux	aux États-Unis — in/to the United States
Continent	en	en + continent	en Europe — in/to Europe

The forms au and aux are contractions: two words combine into one. À + le becomes au, and à + les becomes aux. Do not write à le Canada or à les États-Unis.

Most country names ending in an unpronounced -e are feminine: la France, l'Italie, la Chine, l'Allemagne. This is a useful clue, not a complete rule. Important masculine exceptions ending in -e include le Mexique, le Cambodge, le Mozambique, and le Zimbabwe. Learn a country with le, la, l', or les rather than memorizing the name alone.

All continent names used in the normal way are feminine and take en: en Afrique, en Amérique, en Asie, en Europe, and en Océanie. Antarctique also appears with en: en Antarctique.

Masculine countries beginning with a vowel

A masculine country whose name begins with a vowel sound normally takes en, not au: en Iran, en Irak, en Afghanistan, en Israël. This avoids an awkward sequence of vowel sounds. Gender still matters elsewhere: French says l'Iran and may use a masculine adjective, but the geographical preposition is en.

This gives a more precise beginner decision path:

1. Is it a city? Use à.
2. Is the country plural? Use aux.
3. Is it feminine, or does a singular country begin with a vowel sound? Use en.
4. Is it masculine and begins with a consonant sound? Use au.

A name beginning with written h may behave differently depending on whether French treats the h as allowing linking. For example, standard usage has en Haïti but au Honduras. These are best learned as complete chunks.

The core choice for “from”

For origin, French usually uses forms built from de:

Type of place	“From” form	Example
City beginning with a consonant sound	de	de Paris — from Paris
City beginning with a vowel sound	d'	d'Amsterdam — from Amsterdam
Feminine country	de or d'	de France, d'Italie
Masculine country beginning with a consonant	du	du Canada
Singular country beginning with a vowel sound	d'	d'Iran, d'Israël
Plural country	des	des États-Unis
Continent	d' or de	d'Europe, d'Asie, d'Afrique, de l'Antarctique

Du is the contraction of de + le, and des is the contraction of de + les. Before a vowel sound, de loses its final vowel and becomes d'; this shortening is called elision. Notice that feminine countries usually drop their article after de: de France, not de la France, when simply expressing origin.

The same forms occur after several common expressions of origin or departure:

• venir de — to come from: Elle vient du Canada.
• revenir de — to come back from: Nous revenons d'Italie.
• partir de — to leave from: Le train part de Paris.
• être originaire de — to be originally from: Il est originaire du Sénégal.

Destination and location use the same geographical form

French normally keeps the same preposition whether the verb describes movement or a fixed location:

• Je vais en France. — I am going to France.
• Je suis en France. — I am in France.
• Elle part au Japon. — She is leaving for Japan.
• Elle travaille au Japon. — She works in Japan.

This differs from English, where “to” marks a destination and “in” marks a location. In French, the place category controls the form more strongly than that English distinction.

Examples in Context

French	English	Note
Je vais en France au mois de juin.	I’m going to France in June.	Feminine country
Il habite au Canada depuis trois ans.	He has lived in Canada for three years.	Masculine country
Elle vient des États-Unis.	She comes from the United States.	Plural country, origin
Nous allons à Paris ce week-end.	We’re going to Paris this weekend.	City
Ma sœur étudie en Allemagne.	My sister studies in Germany.	Feminine country
Vous travaillez au Japon ?	Do you work in Japan?	Masculine country
Ils passent leurs vacances aux Pays-Bas.	They spend their vacation in the Netherlands.	Plural country
Le vol arrive d'Italie à huit heures.	The flight arrives from Italy at eight.	Feminine country before a vowel
Samir est originaire du Maroc.	Samir is originally from Morocco.	Masculine country, origin
Ce train vient de Belgique.	This train comes from Belgium.	Feminine country, origin
Nous faisons un voyage en Asie.	We are taking a trip in Asia.	Continent
Elle revient d'Europe demain.	She is returning from Europe tomorrow.	Continent, origin
Mes amis vivent en Iran.	My friends live in Iran.	Masculine name beginning with a vowel
Le bateau part de Marseille.	The boat leaves from Marseille.	City, origin
Il va à Cuba pour son travail.	He is going to Cuba for work.	Island name learned with à

Common Mistakes

Using à before every destination

• Wrong: Je vais à France.
• Right: Je vais en France.
• Why: À is the default for cities, not countries. France is feminine, so use en.

Translating English “in” as dans

• Wrong: Elle habite dans Canada.
• Right: Elle habite au Canada.
• Why: Dans means “inside” in many ordinary contexts, but a country name normally takes its geographical preposition. Use au with a masculine country beginning with a consonant.

Keeping the article after de with a feminine country

• Wrong: Nous revenons de la France.
• Right: Nous revenons de France.
• Why: For simple geographical origin, feminine country names normally use bare de or d'. De la France can be correct when France is discussed as a defined thing rather than merely as the point of origin, but that is not the beginner pattern.

Forgetting contractions

• Wrong: Il travaille à le Portugal et vient de le Brésil.
• Right: Il travaille au Portugal et vient du Brésil.
• Why: À + le must become au, and de + le must become du.

Choosing au for every masculine country

• Wrong: Elle vit au Iran.
• Right: Elle vit en Iran.
• Why: A singular country beginning with a vowel sound normally takes en, even when its name is masculine.

Treating every name ending in -e as feminine

• Wrong: Nous partons en Mexique.
• Right: Nous partons au Mexique.
• Why: Le Mexique is one of the common masculine exceptions. Memorize the article with the country.

Usage Notes

Nationality is expressed without a geographical preposition

Do not confuse being in a country with stating nationality:

• Elle habite en France. — She lives in France.
• Elle est française. — She is French.
• Il vient du Canada. — He comes from Canada.
• Il est canadien. — He is Canadian.

The nationality adjective agrees with the person or noun it describes; that is a separate grammar pattern.

Habiter en France and habiter la France

At beginner level, use habiter à Paris, habiter en France, and habiter au Canada. French can also use habiter directly with a place—habiter Paris, habiter la France—especially in literary, administrative, or stylistically marked language. The prepositional construction is the safest neutral choice for learners and is extremely common.

Articles return when the country is described or treated as a noun phrase

The rules in this article concern a country used as a geographical location or origin. An article may appear when the country name is the subject or object, or when it is modified:

• La France est en Europe. — France is in Europe.
• J'aime le Canada. — I like Canada.
• la France du XIXe siècle — nineteenth-century France
• Il revient de la France rurale. — He is returning from rural France.

Here, la France rurale means a particular aspect or version of France, so de la is meaningful. This does not replace the normal Il revient de France.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master every special geographical name at A1, but you will encounter several patterns that resist a simple “country gender” chart.

Islands and island groups

Island usage depends partly on convention, political status, and whether the name has an article. Some commonly learned forms are:

Pattern	Examples
à / de with certain singular islands or island states	à Cuba / de Cuba, à Madagascar / de Madagascar, à Malte / de Malte, à Chypre / de Chypre
en / de with some feminine islands or regions	en Corse / de Corse, en Sicile / de Sicile, en Sardaigne / de Sardaigne
aux / des with plural island groups	aux Bahamas / des Bahamas, aux Antilles / des Antilles

There is no reliable spelling rule that predicts every island. Learn frequent island names together with their prepositions, and check a current dictionary for less familiar places.

Cities whose names contain an article

Most cities follow à / de: à Lyon, de Lyon; à Amsterdam, d'Amsterdam. A few names include an article that affects the contraction:

• au Havre / du Havre
• au Caire / du Caire
• à La Rochelle / de La Rochelle
• à La Haye / de La Haye

Capitalization is part of the official place name. Usage with names beginning in Le or La is lexical, so it is wise to learn the whole phrase.

Regions, provinces, and states

Regions do not all behave exactly like countries. Common French regions often use en when feminine or vowel-initial (en Bretagne, en Normandie, en Alsace) and dans le with many masculine names (dans le Jura, dans le Limousin). Canadian provinces and US states also show conventional variation: au Québec, en Californie, au Texas, dans l'État de New York. These belong to a broader advanced study of geographical names rather than the basic country system.

En versus dans with a time limit

With a country, en usually identifies the place: Je travaille en France. Dans can become natural when it introduces a fuller noun phrase or emphasizes an area: dans le nord de la France, dans la France des années 1960. It is also used with plurals in some non-geographical constructions, but it is not a general substitute for en, au, or aux.

Practice Tips

1. Learn three forms as one set. For each new country, record its article, destination/location form, and origin form: le Japon → au Japon → du Japon; l'Italie → en Italie → d'Italie.
2. Sort a personal map. Choose ten places relevant to your life and group them under à, en, au, aux. Then say one sentence about going there and another about coming from there.
3. Listen for complete chunks. In weather reports, travel videos, and news headlines, note phrases such as en Europe, au Brésil, and aux États-Unis. Repeating the whole chunk is more reliable than guessing gender from spelling each time.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Prepositions of Place — introduces basic location words such as à, de, dans, and chez before this geographical system.