| 13.4.1 en with expressions of place |
We have the following difficulty:
| Example for expression of origin | ||||
 |
Il habite en France. | Il habite au Portugal. | Il habite en Espagne. | Il habite aux États-Unis. |
There is en as well as à.
| There are the following rules. | |
| 1) Countries and regions starting with a vowel use en. | |
|
Il habite en Allemagne. |
|
Il habite en Argentine. |
|
Il habite en Alsace. |
| 2) Female countries and regions are used with en. | |
|
Il habite en Belgique. |
|
Il habite en Pologne. |
|
Il habite en Bretagne.
BUT:
Je
pars pour la Bretagne. / Je vais en Bretagne |
| 3) Country names in Plural are used with aux. | |
|
Il habite aux États-Unis. |
|
Il habite aux îles Baleares. |
| 4) All others are used with à / au | |
|
Il habite au Maroc. Il habite à Rabat |
|
|
Il habite au Portugal. Il habite à Lisbonne. |
| For towns, cities and parts of them it is always: à | |||
|
Il habite à Paris. | Il habite à Amsterdam. | Il habite à Kreuzberg. |
If you feel now this all is overwhelmingly too much to understand, do not worry. Even if you use the wrong preposition, mostly it will not prevent anyone to understand, what you would like to say. So, just go on and practice and do not let anybody discourage you.
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