French Language - Prepositions + Countries/Cities

Posted by Chanda

Jan

2009

Je viens des États-Unis, j’habite en Espagne, mais je vais en France. (I’m from the United States, I live in Spain but, I’m going to France.) This is a simple sentence, some part of which is often used when meeting people in international contexts, but which in French can sometimes seem complicated to English speakers because of the grammar rules regarding prepositions (in, to, from) and the confusion about how countries can be either masculine or feminine and some plural. In this article, I’ll try to shed some light on the issue.

*J’habite* +	(masculine country) au Portugal.
	(feminine country) en France.
	(country that begins with a vowel) *en Italie.***
	(plural country) *aux États-Unis.*
	(city) *à Londres.*

*Je vais* +	(masculine country) *au Portugal.*
	(feminine country) *en France.*
	(country that begins with a vowel) *en Italie.*
	(plural country) *aux États-Unis.*
	(city) *à Londres.*

*Je viens* +	(masculine country) *du Portugal.*
	(feminine country) *de France.*
	(country that begins with a vowel) *d’Italie.*
	(plural country) *des États-Unis.*
	(city) *de Londres.*
	(city that begins with a vowel) *d’Amsterdam.*

Now, here’s a list of some countries in columns according to gender/plurality.

*la France*	*le Portugal*	*les États-Unis*
*la Chine*	*le Brésil*	*les Pays-Bas*
*la Grèce*	*le Togo*	*les Fidji*
*la Russie*	*le Sénégal*	*les Émirats Arabes Unis*
*la Suisse*	*le Maroc*	*les Philippines*
*l’Allemagne*	*l’Afghanistan*	*les Bahamas*
*l’Italie*	*le Mexique*	*les États Fédérés de Micronésie*
*l’Argentine*	*le Belize*	*les Salomon*
*l’Espagne*	*le Cambodge*	*les Maldives*

As you may have noticed above, the rule for countries is: almost all countries that end in -e are considered to be feminine for grammatical purposes. The exceptions are:
le Mexique
le Belize
le Cambodge
le Mozambique
le Zaïre
le Zimbabwe

The same rules for countries apply to continents. In fact, all continents end in -e and are considered to be feminine for grammatical purposes. (L’Asie, l’Amérique du Nord, l’Amérique du Sud, l’Afrique, l’Antarctique, l’Australie, l’Europe)

Vous êtes d’où? (Where are you from?)
Vous habitez où? (Where do you live?)

I encourage all of you to answer these two questions in a comment…not only will you be able to practice your French, but it would be interesting to find out about the people who read this blog.

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21 Comments

Keith Channing commented on January 27, 2009 at 4:19 am |Permalink

Je viens du Royaume Uni et j’habite en France
Judy Marion commented on January 28, 2009 at 12:09 am |Permalink

Bonjour. J’habite à Chinchilla, une petite ville en Queensland. Je viens d’Australie.
Marco Antonio commented on January 28, 2009 at 7:15 pm |Permalink

je viens du brésil et j’habite au rio de janeiro, dans le banlieue.
vidhyaplv commented on February 1, 2009 at 12:00 pm |Permalink

Je vien d’Inde et j’habite aux Etats-Unis,en Edison.
Fabiane Mazzochi Scheultz commented on February 6, 2009 at 12:09 am |Permalink

Salut! Je m’appelle Fabiane et je suis du Brésil. Je vais en France prochaine anée. Et vous?
Jim commented on February 13, 2009 at 12:39 am |Permalink

J’habite aux Etats-Unis, dans le Minnesota
Alice commented on February 19, 2009 at 10:10 am |Permalink

Vous êtes d’où?
-Je suis de l’Inde.

Vous habitez où?
- J’habite aux Unite Arab Emirate
redanqi commented on February 20, 2009 at 3:41 am |Permalink

Je suis de chine. J’habite à Hangzhou
orangutang commented on March 2, 2009 at 5:06 am |Permalink

What Country is Etats-Unis in English??
Respond As Soon As Possible,, Lauren
natasha commented on March 4, 2009 at 12:50 am |Permalink

Not sure if you were serious, Etats-Unis is “United States”
Andrea commented on March 21, 2009 at 3:46 am |Permalink

Je suis d’Autriche.
Andrea commented on March 21, 2009 at 3:50 am |Permalink

J’habite à Vienne.
Shane commented on March 31, 2009 at 7:34 pm |Permalink

Je viens d’ontario. J’habite a Quebec.
Helen commented on March 31, 2009 at 8:33 pm |Permalink

Je suis(se) Coréene. [Is the 'suis' supposed to be in feminine form as well?]
J’habite à Richmond.
Chanda commented on April 1, 2009 at 4:04 pm |Permalink

The correct way is ‘Je suis…’ There is no feminine form for present tense verbs.
Dawn commented on July 30, 2009 at 2:40 pm |Permalink

j’aime etudier francais
Anirudh Sriram commented on October 4, 2009 at 9:35 am |Permalink

je suis indien
j’habite Abou Dabi
Alex commented on October 24, 2009 at 10:24 am |Permalink

Je viens des états-unis, j’habite à Perpignan.
Nastya commented on November 3, 2009 at 6:41 am |Permalink

Je suis Ykrenienne. J’habite Kiev)
Claudia commented on November 15, 2009 at 9:19 pm |Permalink

Salut! Je viens au Canada, et… J’habite au Canada… Mais, je vais en France. :]
Chanda commented on November 16, 2009 at 7:25 am |Permalink

Salut Claudia! On dit plutôt “Je viens du Canada.” Merci beaucoup pour ta participation sur ce blog!