Prepositions: the Basics

In French, there are many rules regarding the use of the prepositions. Let's take a closer look at them.

Prepositions of Place

Rule 1: To express indication of places in French, the prepositions of place are used. You can combine them with nouns or pronouns.

Here's an example:

Prepositions of Place vs. Geographic Places

Most French prepositions of place and time can be translated directly from English. They are also pretty easy to use. However, that is not the thing with the geographic indicators.

Rule 2: There are four prepositions of place you can use with geographical places: en, au, aux and à. Here's how they are used:

En, au, and aux are all used with country names.

- en is used with feminine nouns ending in -e and all nouns starting with a vowel or a mute h.

- au is used masculine nouns and nouns ending in a consonant.

- aux is used with plural nouns.

- à is used with city names.

Prepositions of Time

Rule 3: To express indication of time in French, the prepositions of time are used. You can combine

them with nouns or pronouns.

Here's an example:

Other Important Prepositions

Here are a few examples:

Fusion of À with Articles

Rule 4: The preposition à is combined with the articles le and les to make one word:

Note: Be careful, the articles la and l‘ do not merge.

Chez vs. À

Rule 5: Chez (at) refers to the place where someone lives or does a particular job. It's also commonly used with the name of the company.

In all other cases, à is used.

Verbs with Prepositions

Rule 6: For certain verbs, the infinitive follows without a preposition, e.g. for movement verbs and verbs that express opinions or wishes.

- For some other verbs, the preposition de + infinitive follows:

- For some other verbs, the preposition à + infinitive follows: