Prepositions with Countries in French

Overview

When talking about countries, continents, and cities in French, the preposition you use depends on the gender, number, and first letter of the geographical name. This is a distinctly French challenge that does not exist in English, where you simply say "in France" or "to Canada" regardless of grammar.

At the A1 level, learning these patterns is essential because talking about where you come from, where you live, and where you want to travel is one of the most common conversation topics. The good news is that the rules are quite regular once you learn them.

Most country names in French have a gender. Countries ending in -e are generally feminine (la France, la Chine, l'Italie), while those ending in other letters are generally masculine (le Canada, le Japon, le Brésil). There are a few exceptions, like le Mexique and le Mozambique, which end in -e but are masculine.

How It Works

Going to / Being in a place:

Type	Preposition	Example
Feminine country / continent	en	en France, en Asie
Masculine country starting with vowel	en	en Iran, en Irak
Masculine country starting with consonant	au	au Canada, au Japon
Plural country	aux	aux États-Unis, aux Pays-Bas
City	à	à Paris, à Londres

Coming from a place:

Type	Preposition	Example
Feminine country / continent	de / d'	de France, d'Italie
Masculine country starting with vowel	d'	d'Iran
Masculine country starting with consonant	du	du Canada, du Japon
Plural country	des	des États-Unis
City	de / d'	de Paris, d'Amsterdam

Key points:

• En is used with feminine countries, continents, and masculine countries starting with a vowel.
• Au is the contraction of à + le, used with masculine countries starting with a consonant.
• Aux is the contraction of à + les, used with plural countries.
• Cities always take à (going to) and de (coming from), with no article.

Examples in Context

French	English	Note
Je vais en France.	I'm going to France.	Feminine country
Il habite au Canada.	He lives in Canada.	Masculine country
Elle vient des États-Unis.	She comes from the United States.	Plural country
Nous allons à Paris.	We're going to Paris.	City
Tu vis en Italie?	Do you live in Italy?	Feminine country
Je viens du Japon.	I come from Japan.	Masculine, consonant
Ils voyagent en Afrique.	They travel in Africa.	Continent (feminine)
Elle est née en Iran.	She was born in Iran.	Masculine, vowel start
Nous revenons d'Espagne.	We're coming back from Spain.	Feminine, vowel = d'
Il travaille aux Pays-Bas.	He works in the Netherlands.	Plural country

Common Mistakes

Using "dans" for countries

• Wrong: J'habite dans la France.
• Right: J'habite en France.
• Why: French uses specific prepositions (en/au/aux) for countries, not dans.

Forgetting the contraction with masculine countries

• Wrong: Je vais à le Canada.
• Right: Je vais au Canada.
• Why: À + le always contracts to au.

Using "en" with masculine consonant-starting countries

• Wrong: Je vis en Brésil.
• Right: Je vis au Brésil.
• Why: En is for feminine countries and masculine ones starting with a vowel. Masculine countries starting with a consonant take au.

Adding an article with cities

• Wrong: Je vais à la Paris.
• Right: Je vais à Paris.
• Why: Cities do not take an article in French (with rare exceptions like Le Havre or La Rochelle).

Practice Tips

1. Make a list of ten countries you would like to visit and practice saying "I want to go to..." (Je veux aller en/au/aux...) for each one, paying attention to gender.
2. Practice introducing yourself with your origin: Je viens de... and your current location: J'habite en/au/à...
3. Group countries by their preposition pattern (en, au, aux) to build your memory of which is which.

Related Concepts

• Prepositions of Place — the parent concept covering general spatial prepositions