# FR: à, en, dans - in, at



## sudest

Actually I have been reading prepositions on internet and in the ing-fr dictionaries many times.Simply I undestood meanings.But I'm always confused while I come across different sentences,espacially if there is* in.*
Ok. hours=à,seassons,months=en,inside=dans.
*But à la polémique,at bank,at school,on TV( à la télé) etc....*
*Are there strong clues to master this complex issue?I don't want to miss any point here.*


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## jann

You can create yourself a list of general guidelines, such as the ones you mention.  The distinction _dans_ = inside is often particularly helpful.  Rules for countries and cities are listed here.

However, I am afraid that in the end you just have to memorize these things in French.  Actually, you had to memorize them in English too.  In English, a different preposition is often possible depending on the exact meaning you want to convey... and a preposition that works for one noun will not always work for another.  

e.g., John is IN school, but John's father is AT work.  We can also say that John is AT school today, and that his father is IN the office today.  In the morning, John goes TO school, and his father goes TO work or TO the office.

For usage of the French prepositions, it may help you to refer to some of the previous discussions.


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## Qcumber

The problem is the same with every language that has prepositions. I'm afraid you've got to learn by heart all these prepositional phrases, and if the language has a nominal declension (fortunately French doesn't), you've got to learn each preposition with the case(s) it governs.

à la télé(vision)
à la radio
au [à le] cinéma
dans mon dictionnaire
etc.

Have courage


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## canadiansrock

Hey
when do you use which one, when they aren't countries?

like "in the park" "in the library" "in my house"
=  au park, dans la bibliotheque, chez-moi

and then like "in anger" or "in a mentally unstable state"

so, im not sure when to use which preposition =)


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## peter13

"Dans un état instable", "dans le parc", "dans la vallée", "dans l'assiette". "Dans" is inside something, you really are into it.

"A" is the verb "avoir", not a preposition e.g. "Il y a un parc", "il a mal au ventre", and here is the preposition "c'est à lui" which is used in possessive cases.

"En" is weird, but I think it is demonstrative or precise to a moment. e.g. "C'est en entrant dans sa chambre qu'il s'est cogné le pied", "En 1990, il s'est cogné le pied", "Il en a assez".

My definitions are not perfect. You would need a grammatician to answer these.


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## nouvellerin

I'm not native French, but I'll give your general question a shot...each have many uses.

*en *is  used for transportation. Je vais au Canada *en *avion; je voyage *en* Europe *en* train. *en *is also used for time when you're saying how long it takes to do something. Je peux construire une maison *en *6 mois. It is also used for months, years, and seasons (except printemps which uses *au*).. *En *2004, Georde W. Bush a été réelu président des Etats-Unis; le peuple a voté *en *novembre.

*Dans *is used when you are literally in something. Tu peux être *dans* le bus, *dans* l'avion,* dans *un bar,* dans *une maison. Les choses et les gens peuvent être *dans* un état. Dans is also used for time when you're saying when something in the future will happen. J'arrive *dans* un quart d'heure (I'll be there in 15 minutes).

Remember on this forum to always use accents. When you wrote *a *it is taken as the third person form of the verb avoir. *à *is a preposition which usually doesn't mean "in" but "to," "at," or "belonging to." 

There are more uses, a good grammar book will give all the uses and examples. Hope that helped anyway!


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## berndf

peter13 said:


> "En" is weird, but I think it is demonstrative or precise to a moment. e.g. "C'est en entrant dans sa chambre qu'il s'est cogné le pied", "En 1990, il s'est cogné le pied", "Il en a assez".


 
Bear in mind that _en_ in _en France_ and in _je vous en prie_ are two different words with different etymologies. The former is derived from Latin _in (in)_ and the latter from Latin _inde (there)_.


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## pyan

There are some resources listed in the sticky at the top of the forum - and a link which leads to this:  *Prepositions.

*This leads you to these resources:
*Dans vs En
*Two thirds of your question answered. 

*Introduction to Prepositions*
For beginners: prepositions defined, plus a short list of essential French   prepositions.

*Prepositions*
Detailed information about the most common French       prepositions, including meanings, usage, comparisons between prepositions,       and related expressions and verbs.

These should complement the useful guidance you've had in this thread. Good luck.


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## 'Za

Salut!

Actually, there is no clear rule.
Of course, there are general meanings, but the best way to know which preposition is after what verb is to learn them.
I learn other languages than English, and it's the same (in Portuguese for example, it even changes depending on the country you're in - Brazil or Portugal - doh!).

Still, good luck!
I think the best way to improve is to read!


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## gpuri

Bonjour,

I can understand the difference between *dans *and *en *as explained by *nouvellerin* earlier in this thread, however there was not much discussion regarding the difference between *dans *and *à*. None of the links provided above provided much information on the use of à.

The issue for me is that 'dans' is used when you are physically in something. But 'Ils habitent à la cité-U" is correct I believe. Another example is:
"Ils jouent au volleyball au gym".
Can you please explain why? Is there a general rule that I can follow in relation to the use of *à*?


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## Oddmania

Hi,

We usually use *au *or _*à la* _+ rooms (in a house, a building).

_Il est au rez-de-chaussée (au premier/deuxième/...étage), il est à la  cuisine, il est à la salle de bain, il est au garage, il est aux  toilettes. 

_Somehow, you can't say _Il est à la chambre_, probably because there are usually more than one bedroom in a house. And_ il est au jardin_ sounds strange, maybe because it's not considered a room.

You could use _dans + room_ too, but this is more likely to mean _inside + room.__ Il est *dans *le rez-de-chaussée_ (or _dans le_ _1er/2e étage..._) and _Il est *dans *les toilettes _are not possible, though. The _rez-de-chaussée_ is the ground floor. It's not a room, you're can't be inside it, and _dans les toilettes_ would mean that you've fallen down the toilet pan 

As for buildings (_Ils jouent au volley au gym*nase*_), I think both are interchangeable, but _à _is much more common. _Dans _sounds "overdetailed". For instance, if you mean _She is gone to the bank_, you'll say _Elle est à la banque._ On the other hand, if a bank robbery is happening, and you want to say _My wife is inside the building!_ then you could indeed say _Ma femme est dans la banque._ In this particular case, her location is an important detail.


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## TitTornade

Hi,
"il est à l'école" = he is at school (meaning he's with the teacher, his friends and he's studying or he is in the courtyard...)
"il est dans l'école" = he is in the school building (and not in the courtyard).


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## gpuri

Oddmania said:


> _We usually use *au *or *à la* + rooms (in a house, a building).
> Il est au rez-de-chaussée (au premier/deuxième/...étage), il est à la  cuisine, il est à la salle de bain, il est au garage, il est aux  toilettes.
> 
> ...
> You could use dans + room too, but this is more likely to mean inside + room.
> _



I found that dans is used in:

Où se trouve le canapé?
Dans la salle de séjour.

If you can say "_il est à la salle de bain_", how is the phrase above justified (if any logic exists)?


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## Maître Capello

Both prepositions are usually fine for rooms:

_*dans* la cuisine_ / _*à* la cuisine_
_*dans* la salle de bain_ / _*à* la salle de bain_
_*dans* le salon_ / _*au* salon_
_*dans* les toilettes_ / _*aux* toilettes_ (the former may however also mean "in the toilet bowl")

I would however only say _dans_ in the following examples:

_*dans* la chambre (à coucher)_
_*dans* la salle de séjour_
_*dans* le bureau_ (_au bureau_ would mean "at work")
_*dans* le hall_
_*dans* le couloir_

(The last two are not really rooms though.)


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## Lly4n4

gpuri said:


> Où se trouve le canapé?
> Dans la salle de séjour.
> 
> If you can say "_il est à la salle de bain_", how is the phrase above justified (if any logic exists)?


I find interesting your example, as I have another piece of wisdom (doh!) to add to this thread. But maybe it's only my point of view?

When talking about an object, such as sofas, we prefer in French to use "dans" - maybe because as objects they can't move by themselves so they are stuck at a precise location.
_Le tabouret est dans la salle de bains / la cuisine / le séjour / les toilettes / l'arrière-boutique.
Tu trouveras un distributeur de cannettes dans le parc.
Tu trouveras Jean au parc Monceau.
_


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## Maître Capello

I had thought about that distinction (objects vs. people) too, but found many examples where both prepositions are natural to me: 

_La cafetière est *dans/à* la cuisine_. (I would probably say the latter.)
_Jean est *dans le / au* salon._


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