Hello and welcome to today’s podcast English with Languissimo® which will help you improve your vocabulary so that you can communicate better in English.
My name is Vanessa. I’m the founder and CEO of Languissimo®.
Today, I will cover the difference between “in” and “at”.
- “In” means “dans, à, au, aux, en”. It is used with months of the year, years, seasons, continents, countries, provinces, states, and cities. For example, “in February, in 2024, in winter, in Northern America, in Europe, in France, in Mexico, in Ontario, in the United States, in Tokyo, in New York, in Ottawa” (en février, en 2024, en hiver, en Amérique du nord, en Europe, en France, au Mexique, en Ontario, aux Etats-Unis, à Tokyo, à New York, à Ottawa).
“In” (dans) is used with a duration in the future: “seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years”. For example, “we’re leaving in two seconds/minutes/hours/days/weeks/months/years” (nous partons dans 2 secondes/minutes/heures/jours/semaines/mois/ans).
“In” (en) is a synonym of “within” and it is used with a duration in the past. For example, “I did the exercise in/within 2 minutes”. It means that it took me 2 minutes to do the exercise.
“I will complete the exercise in two minutes” has two translations depending on the context: one, “je finirai l’exercice en 2 minutes” (it refers to how long it will take me to complete the exercise) or, two “je finirai l’exercice dans 2 minutes” (it refers to when I will complete the exercise).
“In” is also used with periods of the day: “in the morning” (le matin), “in the afternoon” (l’après-midi), “in the evening” (le soir).
- “At” means “à”. It is used with time. For example, “at noon” (à midi), “at 10 am” (à 10 h), “at 2 pm” (à 14 h).
“At” is used in many expressions: “at night” (le soir/la nuit), “at home” (à la maison), “at work” (au travail), “at school/university” (à l’école/l’université), “at the end of” (à la fin de), “at the airport” (à l’aéroport).
To make it simple, try and memorize the expression with the preposition.
Please note that there is a difference between “I’m at the hospital” (je suis à l’hôpital) and “I’m in the hospital” (je suis à l’hôpital). The first one means that you are visiting someone. The second one means that you are a patient there.
Some Practice Questions
- What month, year and season were you born?
- Where do you live (continent, province/state/area, and city)?
- What are you going to do in a few minutes?
Ta da! That’s it for today! I hope you enjoyed this podcast. Subscribe to English with Languissimo®, practice, take care and have a great weekend! Big hugs 😊