French Prepositions Explained: à, de, en, dans, chez (Without the Headache)

The key French prepositions are à (to/at), de (of/from), en and dans (in), sur (on), and chez (at someone’s place). Start with the construction, not a single English translation: à Paris can mean “in Paris” or “to Paris,” and de Paris can mean “from Paris.” Country names depend on number, gender and initial sound: en France, au Japon, aux États-Unis. For time, finir en deux heures means “finish in two hours,” while partir dans deux heures means “leave two hours from now.”

Prepositions that finally make sense, with clear French audio examples. Get it on the App Store or Google Play.

The starter list (reference table)

À vs de: destination, origin and other uses

For movement, a useful contrast is à for destination and de for origin: Je vais à Paris / je viens de Paris. But j’habite à Paris expresses location, not movement, and le livre de Marie (Marie’s book) expresses possession, not movement away. Both prepositions have several functions.

The classic contrast pair: une tasse de thé (a cup of tea - content) vs une tasse à thé (a teacup - purpose).

Contractions to memorize: à + le = au, à + les = aux, de + le = du, de + les = des. These contractions apply to the definite articles le and les, not the object pronouns. There is no contraction with la or l’: à la gare, à l’école, de la gare, de l’école.

En vs dans: the logic split

Place and transport: en voiture means “by car” (mode of transport); dans la voiture means “inside the car.”

Do not generalize this into “en = enclosed or abstract”: dans une boîte describes an enclosed space, and dans cette situation is abstract. Learn established expressions such as en France, en classe and à pied rather than replacing every English “in” with one preposition.

Time (the section worth memorizing): J’ai fini le travail en deux heures means “I finished the work in two hours”: en gives the time taken to complete it, not automatically a maximum deadline. Je pars dans deux heures means “I’m leaving two hours from now”: dans places the event after that interval.

Compare j’ai travaillé pendant deux heures (I worked for two hours), which states a duration without saying the work was completed. These patterns do not cover every time expression: en juillet simply means “in July.”

Countries and cities: the gender system

For location or destination, check plural country names first: aux États-Unis stays plural even though États begins with a vowel. For singular names, gender and initial sound guide the usual choice. The “from” column below applies to origin after a verb such as venir, not to every use of de.

Cities usually take à for location or destination: à Paris, à Lyon. An article in the name changes the form: au Havre, au Caire (à + Le), but à La Rochelle. For origin, use de Paris, du Havre, du Caire, de La Rochelle. You may also encounter en Avignon and en Arles, traditional or regional variants; à Avignon and à Arles are valid too. En is not a general rule for vowel-initial cities.

Trick: most countries ending in -e are feminine (exceptions include le Mexique and le Cambodge).

Chez: the preposition English wishes it had

Chez + person means “at/to their place or business”: chez moi (my place), chez le médecin (at the doctor’s), chez Paul. Extended use: chez les Français (among the French). A common idiom: faites comme chez vous (make yourself at home).

Verb + preposition combos (learn with the verb)

French verb constructions do not map neatly onto English - learn each construction with its meaning: penser à, parler de, dépendre de, jouer à (games) vs jouer de (instruments), commencer à, essayer de.

The same verb can use different prepositions: parler à Marie means “talk to Marie,” while parler de Marie means “talk about Marie.” Learn the full pattern, such as commencer à travailler or essayer de comprendre, not just an isolated verb. For a review method built for exactly this kind of chunk-learning, see spaced repetition for French vocabulary.

Common mistakes

Translating English “in” as dans in every context; saying “visiter à” (use a direct object for the place being visited: visiter Paris); saying “je vais au France” instead of the correct en France. More traps like these live in common French mistakes English speakers make.