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). The big rules: à points toward, de points away; en France but au Japon follows country gender; and dans deux heures means “two hours from now” while en deux heures means “within two hours.”

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

The starter list (reference table)

À vs de: direction vs origin

A useful mental model: à points toward (destination, position, recipient); de points away (origin, possession, content). Je vais à Paris / je viens de Paris. Le livre de Marie (Marie’s book). 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.

En vs dans: the logic split

Place: en for enclosed/abstract or vehicle-as-mode (en voiture - by car, as a mode), dans for a concrete interior (dans la voiture - physically inside this car).

Time (the section worth memorizing): en = duration needed to complete something (en deux heures - within two hours, done in that span); dans = time until something starts (dans deux heures - two hours from now).

Countries and cities: the gender system

Feminine countries and vowel-initial ones take en (en France, en Italie, en Iran); masculine consonant-initial countries take au (au Japon, au Canada); plural country names take aux (aux États-Unis). Cities always take à (à Paris). “From” follows the same gender logic: de France, du Japon, des États-Unis.

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 prepositions attach arbitrarily - learn them as fixed chunks rather than trying to derive them logically: penser à, parler de, dépendre de, jouer à (games) vs jouer de (instruments), commencer à, essayer de. 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” (visiter never takes à before a place); saying “je vais au France” instead of the correct en France. More traps like these live in common French mistakes English speakers make.