French Prepositions

What Is a Preposition in French?

In French, les prépositions(prepositions) connect words or phrases in a sentence, establishing relationships between various parts of speech. The most common prepositions indicate location, direction, time, or manner, but prepositions may also indicate function, type, flavor, material, ownership, or even an abstract or purely grammatical connection between two parts of speech. We'll dive deeper into each of these topics in this article and provide lists of some commonly used French prepositions. For now, here's an overview with examples of some of the different ways prepositions can be used in a sentence in French!

Overview of Some Ways Prepositions Can Be Used in French

How Do I Use a Preposition in French?

Prepositions are usually placed after an adjective, an adverb, a noun, or a verb and before a noun, pronoun, verb, or other part of speech, establishing a relationship between various parts of the sentence. Prepositions are generally invariable, meaning they do not match the gender or number of words they link together.

Here are some examples of preposition placement for the French preposition à(at, to, in, or no direct translation):

What Is a Prepositional Phrase in French?

A prepositional phrase is a group of words that, all together, function as a preposition in a sentence. In this article, we'll include prepositional phrases along with single-word prepositions in our lists of commonly-used prepositions. Here are a few examples of prepositional phrases!

Remember that prepositional phrases ending in à or de contract with le and les, as you'll see in the last two examples below!

What Are the Most Common Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases in French?

There are many prepositions and prepositional phrases in French! Below, you'll find the most common ones used to indicate location, time, and manner. After that, we'll dive into some of the other important uses of prepositions in French.

Prepositions of Location and Direction

These prepositions answer the question Où ?(Where?).

Prepositions of Time

These prepositions answer the question Quand ?(When?).

Prepositions of Manner

These prepositions answer the question Comment ?(How?).

Using Prepositions of Location with Modes of Transportation in French

Planes, trains, automobiles, and more! When talking about modes of transportation you might use when traveling or even going somewhere local, both French and English employ prepositions of location, but the prepositions used in each language are sometimes very different. In French, the most common prepositions used with modes of transportation are à (on, by) and en (by).

In general, prepositions used for modes of transportation can have more than one translation in English. We’ve put the most straightforward translations in the tables below, but just keep in mind that there may be other possible translations in English. For example, Nous y allons en taxican be translated as: We’re going there by taxi or We’re going there in a taxi or We’re taking a taxi there.

Here are a couple of general rules of thumb when it comes to using prepositions with modes of transportation!

Rule 1. Use à with modes of transportation that you sit on top of.

Rule 2. Use en with modes of transportation that you sit inside of.

Using Prepositions of Location with Geographical Locations in French

There are some special rules when it comes to using prepositions with geographical locations in French. Here’s just a quick overview of the rules for using prepositions with place names.

Rule 1. With cities and most islands, use à when going to the place, and de when coming from the place.

Rule 2. With feminine singular continents, countries, and regions, and with masculine singular countries or regions that start with a vowel or silent h, use en for to and de for from.

Rule 3. With masculine singular countries and regions that start with a consonant, use au for to and du for from.

Rule 4. With plural countries and regions, use aux for to and des for from.

Using Prepositions to Indicate Possession in French

As you likely know already, there’s no possessive apostrophe + s in French, like there is in English. If you want to say that something belongs to someone in French, one way you can do so is by using prepositions! Here are some ways to use à, de, and chez to indicate possession in French. These are often translated with an apostrophe + s in English, as it sounds more natural than a literal translation of the preposition.

Using Prepositions to Describe Function or Type in French

As you’ve seen by now, the wee little preposition à has many uses in French! One of the ways it’s used is to indicate the function or type of a noun, or rather what the noun is used for, by linking it to a verb or another noun. The result is often a new word called a noun phrase. Typically, in these cases, there is a translation for the whole noun phrase, so the preposition often has no direct translation in English.

Here are some examples using à to describe the following types of things: une brosse(a brush), une machine(a machine), and une tasse(a cup).

Using Prepositions to Describe Flavor or Scent in French

Yet another use of the preposition à is to indicate the flavor or scent of a noun. Here, the preposition links a noun to another noun to create an adjective phrase. You’ll encounter this a lot when describing food or scented products in French! Again, with this type of usage, there is typically no direct translation of the preposition in English.

When using the preposition à in this type of context, remember that it contracts with the definite articles le and les. Here are a few examples to give you an idea of how this works!

Using Prepositions to Describe Material or Style in French

In French, prepositions are used when describing what material a noun is made of or its style. Again, the preposition combines with other words to create an adjective phrase.

With materials, the preposition en(in, made of) is the go-to most of the time. To describe the style of a noun, like its pattern or design, the preposition à comes in handy. These prepositions are useful when describing clothing and personal belongings or things like houses and furniture. Check out the tables and example sentences below to see how this works!

Describing Materials

When using en to describe a material, the preposition is sometimes translated as in or made of, but sometimes it is omitted in the translation, as you'll see in the examples below the table!

Describing Style

The preposition à is used when describing pattern or design. Here, the preposition is sometimes translated as with, but often the preposition is part of a set phrase so it has no direct translation.

Prepositions That Fulfill Grammatical Functions

As you've seen, a French preposition can play an important grammatical role in a sentence by linking two parts of speech together. Here are a couple of ways that prepositions fulfill grammatical functions in a sentence.

Prepositions Used in Phrases

In some of the explanations in this article, we've mentioned that French prepositions can be used in prepositional phrases, noun phrases, and adjective phrases, but they are sometimes used in adverb phrases and verb phrases too! Here are some examples.

Prepositions Used With Infinitives in French

When a verb is followed by an infinitive in French, a preposition is sometimes required to link the two verbs together. Although some French verbs don't require a preposition in these situations, some require à, and some require de. Here are a few examples.

French Verbs That Do Not Require a Preposition Before an Infinitive

French Verbs That Require À Before an Infinitive

French Verbs That Require De Before an Infinitive