Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A - General rule
When the name of a region ends in a E, it’s usually feminine.
La France, l’Angleterre, la Suise, la Chine, l’Inde, la Californie, l’Asie
* To say you’re going TO it, use EN: Je vais... en France, en Italie, en Afrique, en Floride...
* To say you’re there, use EN: Je suis... en France, en Italie, en Afrique, en Floride...
* To say you’re coming from it, use DE: Je viens de France, d’Italie, d’Afrique, de Floride...
When the name of a region ends in any other vowel but E, or a consonant, it’s usually masculine.
Le Canada, le Japon, le Portugal, le Burundi, le Luxembourg, le Texas
* To say you’re going TO it, use AU: Je vais... au Niger, au Brésil, au Maroc, au Congo
* To say you’re there, use AU: Je suis... au Niger, au Brésil, au Maroc, au Congo
* To say you’re coming from it, use DU: Je viens... du Niger, du Brésil, du Maroc, du Congo
When a masculine country starts with a vowel or an H, use the rules of the feminine countries
L’Iran, l’Ouganda, Oman, Angola, Israël
For more info on country gender, please see this official list
http://publications.europa.eu/code/fr/fr-5000500.htm
www.thinkfrench.com
B - Particular cases
Unfortunately, there are too many exceptions to be listed... So be ready to face many particular cases. Here are
some pointers
1 - Plural names
A few names of regions are plural. Most plural regions end in an S, but not all regions ending in an S are plural (le
Laos, L’Arkansas)... So with plural regions, here is the rule
Les Etats-Unis, les Maldives, les Pays-Bas, Les Philippines...
* To say you’re going TO it, use AUX: Je vais... aux Etats-Unis, aux Maldives
* To say you’re there, use AUX: Je suis... aux Etats-Unis, aux Maldives
* To say you’re coming from it, use DES: Je viens... des Etats-Unis, des Maldives
Note the pronunciation of les Etats-Unis - there are 2 strong liaisons in Z, whether its introduced by les, aux or des
= Zéta Zuni
2 - Cities
Cities are usually not introduced by any article, and usually féminine.
Paris est belle (because here Paris refers to “la ville de Paris”).
* For most cities, to say you’re going TO it, use à: Je vais... à Paris, à Tokyo, à New-York
* To say you’re from it, use DE: Je viens... de Paris, de Tokyo, de New-York
But some cities include an article in their name - Le Havre, le Caire, La Paz, Les Andelys... For these usually the
article contracts with the à, becoming au, du etc...
3 - Islands
Are messy business in French... !! Many don’t have any article, and will be introduced by à or de
Je vais à Cuba, à Haïti, à Madagascar
But some are masculine: Je vais au Japon
And some are feminine: Je vais en Corse
And other plural: Je vais aux Maldives
So it’s more like a case by case senario...
For prespositions used with regions and states, it’s very difficult to say there is a rule per say... We tend not to use
à, but rather en, au, aux or dans le, dans la, dans les... It’s really a matter of customs, not grammar.
Au Texas, dans le Maine, en Bourgogne, en Californie, dans la Creuse....