# FR: on the island/isle - à / sur / dans l'île



## sunshine87

à / dans

can you say *à* l'ile de Man quand il fait beau on va  à la plage?

or should it be *dans* l'ile de Man quand il fait beau on va à la plage. 

merci!

*Moderator note:* Multiple threads merged to create this one.


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## Old Novice

Wait for a native speaker, but I think it would be "en". My understanding is that with states or countries you use "à" if it's masculine -- "je voyage au Canada" -- and "en" if it's feminine -- "je voyage en France",  and "île" is feminine.


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## Raving Rabbid

Native speaker present 

Spontaneously, I would say: _"Sur l'Ile de Man, quand il fait beau, on va à la plage". _(since in the context, you are more considering it as an island, and not as a country as such)

"Dans l'Ile de Man, quand il fait beau, on va à la plage": not incorrect, but it sounds bad to me, even if grammaticaly correct.
A l'Ile de Man : *incorrect (?)*
En l'Ile de Man : (?) never heard that in French. Maybe grammaticaly correct.

A specialist in french grammar should give an opinion....


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## L'Inconnu

That's a tough question, actually. My grammar says to use _*dans le*_ for masculin singuler states or provinces. However, l'île de Man is an island and in any case it is feminin. So the only issue is whether or not to use *à* or *en*.

Normally, for feminin singular countries and islands you use *en *(e.g., en France), but this case may be an exception. The exception to this rule is when the definite article is itself actually part of the name of the city/island. Therefore, the correct usage may indeed be _*à l'île de Man*_.

This is a case of either you know the correct usage or you don't.


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## L'Inconnu

Raving Rabbid said:


> Native speaker present
> 
> Spontaneously, I would say: _"Sur l'Ile de Man, quand il fait beau, on va à la plage". _(since in the context, you are more considering it as an island, and not as a country as such)



Curiously, from the point of view of an English speaker *sur* (on) is the most natural preposition. I did a Google search and found a page featuring this usage.

http://www.terresceltes.net/-Comment-aller-sur-l-ile-de-Man-.html


I also found a page with the following sentence
*
Ouvrir un compte offshore à l’Ile de Man*

http://www.banques-offshore.com/votre-juridiction/europe/ouvrir-compte-offshore-ile-de-man

So both *à* and *sur* are in use. I suppose with yet another Google search I will find *dans* as well. Which brings us to which is your favorite flavor of ice cream?


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## Raving Rabbid

L'Inconnu said:


> This is a case of either you know the correct usage or you don't.


 
For sure...
What I wrote above is just what a native french speaker such as me would prefer to say in this specific context.
Sometimes, what is 100% correct from academic grammatical point of view, is never used in the real life or/and sounds strange...

Probably other french native speakers may have different opinion or feeling...


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## L'Inconnu

My impression is that the 'rules' have some logical explanation. Something as big as a country is something you are 'in', hence 'en' or 'dans'. Whereas, something as small as an island is something you're 'on', hence 'sur'. On the other hand, if the island is a point far away, it might become a 'to'. So, one might say:

Je vais aller à l'île de Man
​Does this sound right to you?


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## Raving Rabbid

L'Inconnu said:


> "Je vais aller à l'île de Man"
> Does this sound right to you?


 
100% right ... I don't see any other possible expression, in this case.


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## Maître Capello

Here you can say _à, sur_ or _dans_.
_à_ → You consider the island as an entity (a city or country).
_sur_ → You consider the island to be essentially flat although it is not a requirement to use that preposition. This a very common/natural preposition in French as well.
_dans_ → You consider the island to be bushy, mountainous, with dense forests, etc. and you refer more specifically to the inner land of the island (e.g., _Je me suis perdu dans cette île_.)

Anyway, please have a look at our resources about countries. See also the following threads:
FR: en Haïti / à Haïti
en/à la Martinique - préposition à employer avec les îles (French Only forum)


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## sunshine87

bonjour

would this be correct:

mon college ideal serait sur une ile dans la mer des Caraibes.
or dans une ile?

my ideal school would be on an island in the Caribbean.


merci beaucoup


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## Lacuzon

Bonsoir,

Both fit.


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## TerryJT

I'm trying to say that I would like to walk on the Ile Saint Louis:

Apres j'aimerai me promener ___ ile saint-Louis


Thank you.


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## SwissPete

Welcome to the forum,Terry.

Apr*è*s*,* j'aimerai*s* me promener *à l'I*ile *S*aint-Louis*.*


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## janpol

J'aimerais me promener sur l'île St-Louis.


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## Carol Lockkwood

*En général, je suis extrêmement enthousiaste d’aller à l’île*

I was wondering if the last part of the sentence, "d’aller à l’île" is correct?

I wanted to say, [Overall, I am extremely excited] *to go to the island.* Would that phrase be correct in that sentence? 

Thanks!


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## caelum

Je ne vois aucune erreur.


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## Lly4n4

Personnellement, ça me chiffonne, j'aurais plutôt dit "sur" pour une île. Voire même "de me rendre sur l'île".


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## newg

Lly4n4 said:


> Personnellement, ça me chiffonne, j'aurais plutôt dit "sur" pour une île. Voire même "de me rendre sur l'île".



Pareil.


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## VanOo

Je suis d'accord...
sauf si vous dites: "d'aller/de me rendre à l'Île de Ré".

En tout cas, _sur l'île_ est toujours correct tandis que _à l'île_ ne fonctionne que dans certains cas.

Notez que si vous dîtes, à l'oral, "aller à l'île", tout le monde comprendra "aller à Lille".


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## L'Embrouilleur

And if one refers to an island without the prefix "l'île de" does that impact the choice of preposition. It does in English. For example, one would say, "I live in Manhattan" but "I live on the island of Manhattan".


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## Lly4n4

Pour prendre pour exemple l'île d'Oléron, la Corse ou Belle-Île :
Cet été, je vais sur l'ile d'Oléron pour mes vacances / à Oléron / à Belle-Île / en Corse. 

Mais on gardera "sur l'île de Ré" parce que le nom est trop court.


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## Maître Capello

Ça ne me choquerait pourtant pas d'entendre _à Ré_… Voir d'ailleurs le fil qui concerne cette île en particulier → FR: (l'île de) Ré.


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