72 - Prepositions For Places in French (Part II)

Hello! Bonjour à tous! Welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast! This is episode number 72, numéro 72. 

This lesson is part II of our lesson on prepositions for places. 

If you haven't listened to part I yet, pause this episode and listen to episode 71 first. 

So in today's episode, learn how to translate the prepositions "to", "at" for a place in French. 

So really to indicate a place where we are at, or in, or a place we're going to.

For example, I'm at the pool or I'm going to the pool. 

Alright, so if you're new to the podcast before you get started, please download your lesson's cheat sheet; it's going to be much easier for you to understand. After the lesson, go and download your lesson's exercises, to practice what you've learned today.

Ok, so when followed by the name of a place, here are the French prepositions you need to use to translate the words "to" and "at"

auà laà l'aux

And oui, the first one and the last one sound the same. They are both pronounced [o] but one has a silent x at the end, and the other one doesn't. 

So, which one to use?

Again, if you listened to last week's episode, you'd know that it depends on three things, so let me remind them to you:

Is the name of the place feminine or masculine?Is the name of the place singular or plural?Does the name of the place starts with a vowel or not?

Once you know that, you just follow these rules:

If the name of the place is masculine singular, use "au"

For example: 

"Je vais au théâtre." (I'm going to the theater.) or "Je suis au théâtre." (I'm at the theater.) 

If the name of the place is feminine singular, use "à la"

For example: 

"Je vais à la bibliothèque." (I'm going to the library.) or "Je suis à la bibliothèque." (I'm at the library.) 

If the name of the place starts with a vowel, use "à l'"

For example:

"Je vais à l'opéra" (I'm going to the opera.) or "Je suis à l'opéra." (I'm at the opera.) 

If the name of the place is plural, use "aux"

For example: 

"Je vais aux toilettes." (I'm going to the toilet.) or "Je suis aux toilettes." (I'm in the toilet.) And in that case, you wouldn't really translate the preposition "aux" with  "at", but with "in" instead.

Alright, so quick recap: 

To translate the preposition "to" and "at."

use "au" if the name of the place is masculine singularuse "à la" if the name of the place is feminine singularuse "à l'" if the name of the place is feminine or masculine singular starting with a voweluse "aux" with a silent x at the end, if the name of the place is plural

And voilà! That's now the end of today's lesson! Thanks so much for listening. Don't forget to go and download your lesson's exercises to practice what you've learned today. If you enjoyed this episode, let me know on my website! 

Talk to you soon!

Merci beaucoup, et à bientôt!