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3.1.1.1.1.3 Definite articles and geographical descriptions

In English only a few countries use an article with their name (The Netherlands). In French in contrary to English articles are used with country names and continents (except for Israël, Cuba, Madagascar).

Examples
	L'	Europe	a	fait	beaucoup	de	progrès.
	---	Europe	has	made	many	of	progresses.
	Beaucoup	de gens	confondent	l'	Amérique	avec	les États Unis.
	Many	of people	mix		America	with	the United States.
	L'	Asie	est	très	grande.
		Asia	is	very	big.
	La	capitale	de	la	France	c'est	Paris.
	The	capital	of		France	this is	Paris.
	L'	Italie	est	un	beau	pays.
		Italy	is	a	beautiful	land.
	L'	Allemagne	se	trouve	au (a + le)	milieu de	l'Europe.
		Germany	itself	finds	in the	middle of	Europe.

If the name of the country is used with the preposition en (to, in) there is no article.

No article after en
	Il	habite	en	Allemagne.
	He	lives	in	Germany.
	Elle	va	en	Italie.
	She	goes	to	Italy.
	En	Europe	on	paye	moins.
	In	Europe	one	pays	less.

Further please note that there are no articles with names of cities.

No article with cities
	Paris	est	une	belle.		ville.
	Paris	is	a	beautiful		city.
	Madrid	est	la	capitale	de	l'	Espagne.
	Madrid	is	the	capital	of		Spain.

With rivers again there are articles, as they are also in English.

With rivers articles are used.
	Le	Rhin	est	la	frontière	entre	la	France	et	l'	Allemagne.
	The	Rhine	is	the	border	between		France	and		Germany.
	La	Seine	traverse	Paris.
	The	Seine	crosses	Paris.

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