Would you say you’re on the bus or in it?

In English, you’re on the bus; in French, you’re in it.

Prepositions like these join phrases and describe their relationship in house or time, and so they can work in another way for every language.

With that in thoughts, let’s discover one sort of preposition in French: prepositions of place.

Contents

Obtain:
This weblog put up is obtainable as a handy and transportable PDF that you simply
can take wherever.
Click on right here to get a duplicate. (Obtain)

Sur — On 

Examples:

Le chat est sur la chaise. (The cat is on the chair.)

J’ai appelé ma mere sur le phone. (I referred to as my mom on the phone.)

Colloquially, sur can be used to say “in” when referring to sure cities:

Je suis sur Paris. (I’m in Paris.)

That is technically grammatically incorrect, although, and will solely be used when talking in a familier register; it shouldn’t be written or utilized in normal French.

Sous — Beneath

Examples:

Les taupes habitent sous la terre. (Moles stay underneath floor.)

Harry Potter habite sous l’escalier. (Harry Potter lives underneath the steps.)

Sous is utilized in quite a lot of compound nouns in French, together with a number of phrases the place the English equal makes use of the Latin root “sub.” For instance:

Devant — Earlier than, Forward of

Examples:

Vas-y; passe devant. (Go forward, go earlier than me.)

Je suis devant le cinéma. Où es-tu? (I’m in entrance of the movie show. The place are you?)

Devant will not be utilized in reference to time, because the English “earlier than” might be. (In French, the phrase for that’s avant .) 

Examples:

Consideration! Je suis juste derrière toi. (Cautious! I’m proper behind you.)

Si tu cherches le sel, il est derrière le poivre. (If you happen to’re on the lookout for the salt, it’s behind the pepper.)

Cautious how you utilize it! In noun kind, derrière additionally means “behind” within the anatomical sense of the phrase.

Avec — With

Examples:

Qu’est-ce que tu veux manger avec tes frites: du ketchup ou de la mayo? (What do you need to eat along with your fries: ketchup or mayo?)

Avec qui est-il venu à la soirée, Simon? (Who did Simon come to the celebration with?)

Chez — On the dwelling / place of job of

Examples:

Tu veux venir chez moi après l’école? (Wish to come to my home after faculty?)

J’ai rendez-vous chez le dentiste aujourd’hui. (I’ve acquired an appointment on the dentist’s in the present day.)

Since chez is a preposition, there’s no want so as to add one other. Many English audio system make the error of utilizing à (at) with chez, as within the following (incorrect!) sentence:

Je vais à chez moi. (I’m going to my dwelling.)

As an alternative, audio system ought to say:

Je vais chez moi. (I’m going dwelling.)

Au fond de — On the extremity of

Whereas that is technically a compound preposition, it may be powerful to get a deal with on so it’s good to start out recognizing it now.

Examples:

J’ai trouvé un trésor au fond du lac. (I discovered treasure on the backside of the lake.)

Les toilettes sont au fond du restaurant. (The lavatory is behind the restaurant.)

Je te remercie du fond du coeur. (Thanks from the underside of my coronary heart.)

Racle le fond du pot de Nutella avant que j’en ouvre un autre. (Scrape out the underside of the Nutella jar earlier than I open one other one.)

Je pense que c’est dans le carton tout au fond du grenier. (I believe it’s within the field all the best way behind the attic.)

À (Au , A la , A l’, Aux ) — At, In, To

Au, a la, a l’, and aux are all permutations of the identical preposition, à, so we’ve grouped them collectively:

À

When speaking about being in a metropolis, à is usually used:

For many different locations, you’d use its permutations. 

Au

Au is used with singular, masculine nouns:

Examples:

Marie est au parc. (Marie is on the park.)

Je suis au cease — où es-tu? (I’m on the cease signal — the place are you?)

This consists of masculine international locations. You’ll be able to inform if a rustic is masculine if its identify doesn’t finish within the letter e:

Listed here are another international locations which are masculine, even when they finish in e: 

A la

A la is used with singular, female nouns:

International locations don’t use this preposition, however most cities do: 

A l’

A l’ is used with singular nouns (masculine or female) that start with a vowel:

Instance:

Je vais à l’école. (I’m going to high school.)

Aux

Aux is used with plural nouns (masculine or female):

Examples:

Je crois en Dieu. (I consider in God.)

J’ai teins ma gown en bleu. (I dyed my costume blue.)

Je vais à Corse en avion. (I’m going to Corsica by aircraft.)

En — In (summary)

En replaces à la because the singular, female noun for international locations. If a rustic ends within the letter e, it’s often female:

En can be used with masculine international locations beginning with a vowel:

Examples:

Je bois mon café dans un bol. (I drink my espresso in a bowl.)

Ton pull est dans la machine à laver. (Your sweater is within the washer.)

You’d additionally use dans for many states and provinces:  

Dans le New-York (In New York [the state])

Dans le Loiret (In Loiret)

Dans l’Ontario (In Ontario)

It’s utilized in some locations the place you’d use “on” in English:

Je suis dans l’avion. (I’m on the aircraft.)

On se retrouve dans le practice? (Lets meet up on the practice?)

Je monte dans le bus. (I’m getting on the bus.)

Dans can be utilized too as an expression of “in” to discuss with time:

On se reverra dans trois semaines! (We’ll see one another once more in three weeks!)

De (Du , De la , De l’, Des ) — From

Like à, de is a part of a gaggle of related pronouns:

• Du is used with singular, masculine nouns.
• De la is used with singular, female nouns.
• De l’ is used with singular nouns.
• Des is used with plural nouns (masculine or female).

However just like the à pronouns, there’s a small change in terms of female international locations and masculine international locations beginning with a vowel. Thus:

Within the case of cities and states, de or d’ replaces à:

Je viens de New-York. (I’m from New York.)

Je reviens mardi d’Alabama. (I’m getting back from Alabama on Tuesday.)

Workout routines for Working towards French Prepositions

One of many key methods to ensure you’re getting prepositions proper is to simply apply. Fortunately, there are tons of workouts on the market that you need to use. Listed here are only a few of our favorites:

• Tex’s Prepositions with Locations: This train from Tex’s French Grammar train appears to be like on the correct method to make use of à, en, au and aux. It additionally features a visible useful resource reminding you when to make use of which preposition.
• Prepositions and International locations: To Study French has a couple of wonderful workouts so that you can actually hone your French preposition utilization. Like Tex’s web page, this train additionally delves into à, en, au and aux, with a a number of selection quiz and a fantastic video useful resource for clarifying when to make use of which preposition.
• Observe with Footage: This very visible train focuses on seven prepositions of place and features a video and a picture that present their that means.
• Even Extra Observe! This train is sort of much like the one above, so in the event you’re nonetheless having hassle: Observe, apply, apply!
• Lingolia’s Fill-in-the-blanks: This train is the very best one for ending up. In contrast to the opposite assets, it requires you to sort out your solutions somewhat than select them from a drop-down menu. It makes a fantastic evaluate for every thing coated by the earlier workouts.
•  

You may also apply French prepositions in context with FluentU, which makes use of native French media to show you the language. Click on on any preposition or phrase within the subtitles, and also you’ll see its that means, grammar data, plus extra sentence and video examples. This system helps you to save prepositions as flashcards too, then drills you on these with common quizzes.  

 

Wrapping your head round using French preposition is a crucial step in the direction of fluency. So gear up with this information to good your ups and downs and every thing in between!

Obtain:
This weblog put up is obtainable as a handy and transportable PDF that you simply
can take wherever.
Click on right here to get a duplicate. (Obtain)