Why do you say “Je vais en France” but “Je vais au Japon”? Like any inanimate object, continents, countries, and regions also have genders in French. The ending will usually tell you which is feminine or masculine and help you choose the correct French preposition of place.

A French preposition of place is a little word which shows the location of someone or something.

Le petit chien est dans son panier.The little dog is in his dog bed.

Sometimes, a preposition of place shows the location of someone or something compared to something else. These are also called prepositions of movement.

Le chat est sous la table et le vase est sur la table. The cat is under the table and the vase is on the table.

And sometimes, a preposition of place introduces a geographical place like a country, or a city, or a region.

Moi, j’habite à Paris. Et toi ? Est-ce que tu habites en France ?I live in Paris. And you? Do you live in France?

Most prepositions of places are pretty straightforward in French and often you can translate them directly from English.

Unfortunately, it’s not the case with French prepositions of place introducing geographic places: I will explain them in depth in this article.

But first, let’s go over the simple French prepositions of place.

Prepositions of places are often used when indicating the position of something or someone, in combination with the French verb être. Click to access my free audio guide featuring the conjugation and pronunciation of to be in French: être.

For now let’s see a list of common French preposition of place. I’ll include an example and translations so you can see how to use them.

Now sometimes prepositions combine together to make what is called in grammatical linguo “French prepositional phrases”. Lovely isn’t it?

They are still commonly referred to as prepositions of place or expressions of place and are very useful when giving directions in French – like when you are driving in France for example (see the next paragraph for examples these French prepositions of place used in context).

Many of these prepositions of place can be used at the end of a sentence, or be followed by, well a place actually! In this case, you’d use “de” or “d'” to introduce the place.

For example : Va à droiteGo/ turn to the rightLe supermarché est à droite de la banque The supermarket is to the right of the bank

These prepositions of place are used throughout the ongoing novel which illustrate my French audiobooks, but directions are covered in particular in chapter 6 of my intermediate French audiobook learning method, À Moi Paris L4.

A new approach to learning both traditional and modern French logically structured for English speakers.

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For the pleasure of it, here is an extract of my audiobook À Moi Paris L4, chapter 6 – but without the audio though… Here is a link to my French bilingual audiobook where you’ll find the whole story and of course the audio!

So, the story: Mary and Patrick are driving to Patrick’s older brother place. Mary is following the directions Arnaud (Patrick’s brother) sent her.

Mary Alors, à Septeuil, il faut prendre à droite au carrefour où il y a la boulangerie. Après, on continue tout droit jusqu’à la mairie, et là, il faut tourner à gauche. So, at Septeuil, you must turn right at the crossroads where there’s a bakery. Afterwards we keep going straight to the town hall, and there, we must turn to the left.

Patrick Ok… Je vois la mairie… Ok… I see the town hall…

Mary Ok, donc tu vas à gauche, et tu continues pendant environ 5 minutes. Arnaud dit qu’il faut faire attention parce que ce n’est pas une route prioritaire, et il y a des croisements qui sont des priorités à droite, donc il faut aller doucement. Ok, so you go left and you continue for about 5 minutes. Arnaud says that you must be careful because this is not a road which has the right of way and there are some intersections where there is a right hand right of way, so you must drive slowly.

Patrick Je déteste les priorités à droite. Quelle règle idiote. I hate the right hand right of way. What an idiotic rule.

Mary Ça, je suis bien d’accord avec toi. Alors, après il dit qu’on doit passer devant une grosse ferme, et prendre à droite ; regarde là-bas, tu crois que c’est ça ? On that, I totally agree with you. So after he says that we should pass in front of a big farm, and then go right, look there, you think that’s it?

Patrick Euh… c’est une ferme, mais elle n’est pas très grosse. Je fais quoi ? Hum… It’s a farm, but it’s not very big. What do I do?

Mary Continue tout droit, on verra bien… Il dit qu’au bout de cette route, il y a un rond- point avec un panneau qui indique Courgent. Continue straight ahead, we’ll see… He said at the end of the road there is a roundabout with a sign that will indicate Courgent.

Ils continuent donc tout droit, 2 minutes se passent, mais toujours pas de rond-point. Ils décident de faire demi-tour, prennent à gauche avant la ferme, et trouvent le rond-point. Ils suivent donc la direction Courgent.

They continue [driving] ahead, 2 minutes go by, but still no round about. They decide to turn around, they take a left in front of the farm and find the roundabout. Then they continue in the direction of Courgent.

Now let’s study the rules of French prepositions used with a geographic place.

Since what follows is quite long, I’ll start with a short recap of the French prepositions of geographic place rules.

Here are the general rules to say your are in a geographic place, or going to a geographical in French.

First you may need to review what we mean by “feminine” and “masculine” in French grammar.

Keep in mind there are many exceptions, and very often, the preposition of place you’ll use in France with a particular region is a matter of habits, so has to be learned by heart.Au Texas, dans le Maryland, en Bourgogne, dans la Creuse…

Now let’s study the prepositions used with a geographic place in depth.

When the name of a region ends in an”e”, it’s usually feminine.La France, l’Angleterre, la Suisse, la Chine, l’Inde, la Californie, l’Asie…

There are many exceptions though, such as le Mexique, le Maine, le Zimbabwe, le Cambodge…

When the name of a region ends in any other vowel but “e”, or a consonant, it’s usually masculine:Le Canada, le Japon, le Portugal, le Burundi, le Luxembourg, le Texas…

When a masculine country starts with a vowel or an H, use the rules of the feminine countries:L’Iran, l’Ouganda, Oman, Angola, Israël….Je vais en Iran, je viens d’Angola, je suis en Israël

For more info on country gender, please see this official listhttp://publications.europa.eu/code/fr/fr-5000500.htm

Nationalities and prepositions of place in French are explained in depth + exercises + story to illustrate the point of grammar + audio in my beginner French audiobook learning method “À Moi Paris L1”, Chapter 11.

A new approach to learning both traditional and modern French logically structured for English speakers.

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Unfortunately, there are too many exceptions to be listed… So be ready to face many particular cases.

Here are some pointers:

A few names of regions are plural.

Most plural regions end in an S (Les États-Unis, les Maldives, les Pays-Bas, les Philippines…), but not all regions ending in an S are plural (le Laos, l’Arkansas, le Texas are some of the many exemples).

Note the pronunciation of “les États-Unis” – there are 2 strong liaisons in Z, whether it’s introduced by “les, aux or des” = Zéta Zuni

Cities are usually not introduced by any article, and it’s unclear whether they are feminine or masculine. According to l’Accadémie Française, both genders are possible for cities.

So you could say Paris est beau. I prefer saying Paris est belle because Paris refers to la ville de Paris.

But I digress. Let’s go back to what preposition of place you should use with cities.

But some cities include an article in their name – Le Havre, Le Caire, La Paz, Les Andelys… The article being part of the proper name, it’s written with an upper-case.

For these names, usually, the definite article contracts with the “à and de”, becoming “au and du” etc…J’aime Le Havre.Je parle du Havre.Je vais au Havre.

Islands are a messy business in French…

So the preposition we use to talk about islands in French is more a case by case scenario.

Regions and states usually follow the general gender rule: ending in “e” = feminine, other letter = masculine.La Provence, le Sussex, l’Orégon…

For prepositions used with regions and states, it’s very difficult to say there is a rule per se. We tend not to use à, but rather en, au, aux or dans le, dans la, dans les…It’s really a matter of custom, the way people have been saying it for generations… not grammar.Au Texas, dans le Maine, en Bourgogne, en Provence, dans la Creuse….

So in many cases, you’re just going to have to learn by heart the way to say being “in” + a region or a state in French.

Note that the US French state names are usually masculine.Le Maryland, le Texas…

Here is the list of US states which are feminine in French (because they end with an “e”):La Floride, la Californie, la Caroline du Sud, la Caroline du Nord, la Louisiane, la Georgie, la Virginie-Occidentale (West Virginia), la Virginie (Virginia), la Pennsylvanie.But watch out for the exception: le Maine.

Note that “l’Arkansas” and “le Texas” are masculine singular, although they end with an “s” (which is pronounced for both states).

Here is a list of US states with the appropriate preposition to say you are “in” or going “to” these states:

So Je vais…, je suis…

In my opinion, the best way to learn the French prepositions of place is to learn them in context. Pick the places that are relevant to you: for example, the country, region and town you are from and the places you often travel to, and start by training with these. Write down whole sentences which are relevant to you.

Je suis née à Paris, en France. Maintenant, j’habite en France, à Paimpol, en Bretagne, plus exactement dans les Côtes-d’Armor. Mais j’ai habité aux États-Unis pendant seize ans, à Boston, dans le Massachusetts. 

To learn all sorts of French prepositions in context, I suggest you take a look at my level-adapted French audio novels, featuring truly useful and realistic situations, fun story and characters, and entirely recorded using modern French pronunciation.

Please consider supporting my free French lesson creation: we’re a tiny husband-and-wife company in France. Support us on Patreon or by purchasing our unique audiobooks to learn French. Instant download. Learn French offline, at home or on the go on any device!

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Born and raised in Paris, I have been teaching today's French to adults for 23+ years in the US and France. Based on my students' goals and needs, I've created unique downloadable French audiobooks focussing on French like it's spoken today, for all levels. Most of my audiobooks are recorded at several speeds to help you conquer the modern French language. Good luck with your studies and remember, repetition is the key!

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