When I want to say "In Canada,..." do i say En Canada or Au Canada. Canada is a masculin country, do i use au?
yes
masculin country --> au
exemple : au canada
au mexique
au japon...
féminin --> en
en chine
en france...
Thank you for using the Jiskha Homework Help Forum. In addition to the assistance from mk-tintin, here's a little lesson on Geographical Expressions.
The definite article (le, l', la, les) is used with names of countries, continents, provinces, mountains and bodies of water, but not with names of cities.
Prepositions with Place Names:
1. To express "to" or "in" with place names:
en = feminine countries, continents, provinces
au, aux = masculine countries
dans + definite article = modified countries, continents
à = cities
(If you'd like examples, just ask!)
2. To express "from" with place names:
de = feminine countries, continents, provinces
de + definite article = masculine countries, countries, continents
and modified countries, continents
de = cities
NOTE: 1. With masculine countries, the definite article is always used.
2. A few cities always have a definite article in French, since the article is part of the name:
examples: le Havre la Nouvelle-Orléans
to, in: au Havre à la Nouvelle-Orléans
from: du Havre de la Nouvelle-Orléans
P.S. If this is the lesson you are studying, I'll be glad to give y ou a list of feminine countries, continents, provinces + masculine countries + mountains and waterways.
Mme
I know the preposition for masculine and feminine countries using en or au. But I don't know if this makes a difference, what i want to say is that, for example, "In Canada, we study hard." The "in Canada" is Canada in general, not necessarily a prepositon, would that be au also?
And yes, it would be helpful if you can list the feminine countries and masculine and also if you can, could you also list the languages spoken in those countries? thanks.
countries/contients where french is spoken
When you want to say "In Canada..." in French, you should use "Au Canada." Although Canada is a masculine country, the preposition used to indicate "in" is "au" in this case.
To understand this rule, you can consider that countries in French are generally preceded by specific prepositions. For feminine countries, such as "la France" (France), you would use "en" to indicate "in." For masculine countries, such as "le Canada," the preposition "au" is used. Similarly, for plural countries, like "les États-Unis" (the United States), you would use "aux."
So, to express "In Canada..." you would say "Au Canada..."