58 - Prepositions Before Countries in French (Part I)

 
 

🌎 Listen to this episode to find out how to translate the preposition “from” when followed by a country name in French. (Part II in episode 59!)

If you’d prefer to listen on the go, listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Links & Cheat Sheet

Transcript

Intro: Welcome to the French Made Easy podcast, where I give you all the basics you need to speak French clearly and confidently. I'm your host, Mathilde, and I'm a French teacher, mumpreneur, and bread and cheese lover. Join me as I dive into all things French for beginners, and deliver to you bite-sized and easy-to-follow lessons every Tuesday. Let's get started, "on commence"!

Hi guys! Bonjour Ă  tous! Welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast! This is episode number 58, numĂ©ro 58. 

In this lesson, you'll be learning some prepositions, and more precisely, prepositions before countries. 

So for example, when I say " I go to France, I come from France, I live in France. Well, that's these little words, "from," "to" and "in" called "prepositions" that we're going to learn. 

So, I've divided this lesson into 2 parts. You guys know how much I love doing 2-parts episodes. Simply because I really want to make sure that the lessons are bite-sized and super easy to follow. 

So in part I of the lesson, which is the episode you're listening to today, we'll learn how to translate the preposition "from" before a country name. 

And in next week's episode, part II, we'll learn how to translate the prepositions "to" and "in" before a country name.

So, before we get started, as usual, please download your lesson's cheat sheet; it's going to be much easier for you to understand. It's free. After the lesson, go and download your lesson's exercises, to practice what you've learned. It's also free.

Alright, vous ĂȘtes prĂȘts? Let's get started. 

So as I said earlier, let's start with the preposition "from."

When followed by a country name, here are the French prepositions you need to use to translate the word "from": 

  • du

  • de

  • d'

  • des

Great, now that we all know that, which one to choose? 

Well, it depends on three things: 

  1. Is the country feminine or masculine?

  2. Is the country singular or plural?

  3. Does the country name starts with a vowel or not?


So first, if you don't know what the countries gender and number are, go back to episodes 39 and 49, where I share a lot of country names as well as their gender. I'll link these 2 episodes in the episode notes.

Quick tip, as a general rule, most countries ending with the letter "e" are feminine. Now, attention, not all countries, there are exceptions. I'll write down some exceptions in the notes as well.

Alright, so let's go back to our prepositions.

  • If the country is masculine singular, use "du"

For example, "Je viens du Canada." (I come from Canada.) "le Canada" is a masculine country, so to say "from Canada," use the preposition "du." 

  • If the country is feminine singular, use "de"

For example, "Je viens de France." (I come from France.) "la France" is a feminine country, so to say "from France," use the preposition "de."

  • If the country is feminine or masculine singular starting with a vowel, use "d'"

For example, "Je viens d'Algérie." (I come from Algeria.) "Je viens d'Iran." (I come from Iran.) Both Algérie and Iran start with a vowel, so you need to use the preposition "d'"

  • If the country is plural, use "des"

For example, "Je viens des États-Unis." (I come from the United-States.) "Les États-Unis" is plural, so you need to use the prĂ©position "des.”

Alright, so to recap: 

To say "from" before a country, say:

  • "du" if the country is masculine singular

  • "de" if the country is feminine singular

  • "d'" if the country is feminine or masculine singular starting with a vowel

  • "des" if the country is plural

And voilĂ ! That's now the end of today's lesson! Thanks so much for listening. Don't forget to go and download your lesson's exercises to practice what you've learned today. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd really appreciate a quick rating and review on Apple Podcast. I'll talk to you guys next week for part II.

Merci beaucoup, et Ă  bientĂŽt!

 
Mathilde KienComment