French prepositions for countries and cities: en, au, aux, a

For destinations, use à with cities, en with most feminine countries, au with masculine countries, and aux with plural countries. The basic pattern is: à Paris, en France, au Canada, aux États-Unis. For “from”, the matching forms are usually de Paris, de France, du Canada, des États-Unis.

Cities use à

With cities, use à for “to” or “in”.

J’habite à Lyon.
I live in Lyon.

Elle va à Montréal.
She is going to Montreal.

For “from”, use de or d' before a vowel:

Il vient de Rome. Elle vient d’Oslo.
He is from Rome. She is from Oslo.

Countries: en, au, aux

Most feminine country names use en. Many feminine country names end in -e, but there are exceptions, so learn common countries with their article when you can.

en France, en Espagne, en Italie
in France, in Spain, in Italy

Masculine singular countries use au:

au Canada, au Japon, au Mexique
in Canada, in Japan, in Mexico

Plural country names use aux:

aux États-Unis, aux Pays-Bas
in the United States, in the Netherlands

From a country: de, du, des

For origin, French often uses de with feminine countries and du with masculine countries. Plural countries use des.

Je viens de France.
I come from France.

Il vient du Brésil.
He comes from Brazil.

Elle vient des Philippines.
She comes from the Philippines.

Common mistakes

Using dans for countries

For countries, the normal destination/location prepositions are en, au, and aux, not dans.

Je vais dans France. → Je vais en France.
I’m going to France.

Using à for every place

Cities take à, but countries usually need en, au, or aux.

J’habite à Canada. → J’habite au Canada.
I live in Canada.

Forgetting the from forms

Au changes to du for “from”, and aux changes to des.

Il vient au Canada. → Il vient du Canada.
He comes from Canada.

The au and aux forms here are the same contractions explained in au, aux, à la, while en also appears in time expressions like en vs dans. Fluera trains these prepositions with real destination and origin sentences, so the country type and the small word stay connected. Try it when you practice French.

Practice