In English, we don’t we don’t focus on the gender of a geographical place when addressing it. In fact, we just state the name, and call it a day! However, this is not the case in French. You have to know which geographical places (e.g., cities, countries, continents, etc.) are which, and be able to identify whether they’re masculine and feminine, as well as their plurality.

Les Prépositions et Noms Géographiques

Special note:

• Geographical places that end in “e” are feminine
• Those that end in any other letter are masculine
• The exceptions to these rules must be memorized
  • e.g.
    • le Combodge
    • le Mexique
    • le Mozambique
    • le Zaïre
    • le Zimbabwe

To clear up any confusion, here are the general guidelines for placing prepositions with the appropriate geographical place.

• Cities/Islands/Groups of Islands that aren’t countries or provinces
  • To express to or in, use the preposition à or aux with plural islands
    • Je vais à Rio de Janeiro cet ètè
    • Marie veut aller à Fire Island pour son anniversaire.
    • To express from, use the preposition de/ d’ or des with plural islands
      • Ma soeur vient de New York
      • Je te visite de Martinique
      • Notice how these places don’t particularly have any articles preceding them with the exception of a few
        • E.g., Le Caire (Cairo)
          • Cities like these always keep the article
          • Je veut aller au Caire
            • (à  + Le)
            • Continents/Countries/States/Provinces
              • Feminine Rules
                • Remembering that the majority of these end in “e”…
                • When expressing to or in a feminine place (under this category), use en or aux for plural places
                  • Les étudiants vont en Chine pour le semestre.
        • These also specifically apply to American states, French and Canadian Provinces
          • Mon prof vit en Normandie
        • When expressing from a feminine place (under this category), use de, d’ or des for plural places
          • Ma famille partent d’Espagne
      • Masculine Rules
        • Remembering the exceptions to the “e” rule…
        • For a singular country/continent, when expressing to or in, use au/à l’, and aux for a plural country
          • Ils vont au Mexique pour ses vacances.
        • Also with a singular country/continent, use the preposition du/de l’ when expressing from and des for a plural country
          • Ma belle-mère vient du Maroc
        • For singular states/provinces that start with a consonant, use dans le or au for in or to, and dans l’ if it starts with a vowel.
          •  Nous allons au Oregon
          • Ils vont dans le Texas pour connaître tout.
        • For singular states/provinces that start with a consonant, use du for from and de l’/d’ if it starts with a vowel.
          • Je suis du New York

Although it seems like knowing whether a geographical place is masculine, feminine, or plural is enough, you still have to account for the verb that precedes the geographical place before deciding what’s the best preposition to use.

Here are three possibilities:

• 1. No preposition is needed
• 2. If you’re talking about going to a place, you use the following appropriate prepositions:
  • À, en, or dans
  • NOTE: when using habiter or vivre to describe that you live in a place, you may also use the above
  • 3. If you’re talking about going away from a place, use the following appropriate preposition:
    • de
    • NOTE: when using talking about coming back from a place, you can use de with the verb venir to form venir de.