Geographical Prepositions
Traveling around the world, one French preposition at a time
Bonjour à toutes et à tous, où que vous soyez !
In English, talking about geography is fairly straightforward, prepositionally speaking. Regardless of the type of place, whether it's a city or a region or a country, when talking about going somewhere ✈️, being somewhere 🏙️, or returning from somewhere 👋, we use just three prepositions:
to
in
from
In French, geographical prepositions are orders of magnitude more complicated.
I. First, you have to determine the type of place in order to know which set of prepositions applies. 🕵️
II. Then, for most places* you also need to know the gender and number in order to choose the appropriate preposition.
On the other hand, once you've figured all that out, there are only two options left:
the equivalent of "to / in"
(French doesn't distinguish between these)the equivalent of "from"
Confused? Not to worry - today's issue of Lawless French à fond has lessons to help you make sense of geographical prepositions, as well as quizzes and exercises to prove your mastery.
Table of Contents
Lessons
Prepositions 101
If you have any doubts about what prepositions are or why they're important, start with this introductory lesson.
Geographical Prepositions
Read this ⬆️ overview before you dive into the specifics of French prepositions with ...
Essential Verbs
Conjugations for the most common verbal accompaniments.
😕 What about "to return"? That brings up another kind of complication: Rentrer, retourner, revenir ...
* GeoLocations 🗺️
In case you need a refresher on this specialized vocab:
Quiz Time
Ready to test yourself in at on geographical prepositions?
Voyage autour du monde
Focus on prepositions with countries in this gapfill test.
Un été international
Figure out the right preposition for countries and cities with this fill-in-the-blanks exercise.
Micro kwiz: Geographical prepositions
Potentially a bit easier than the others because it's multiple choice, but more difficult because in addition to cities and countries, you'll be tested on regions, counties, and states.
Printable Quiz
If you like quizzes, you'll love my French Workbook for Dummies, from which this one is extracted (chapter 12: An Ode to Prepositions).
🖨️ Download quiz with answer key
Listening
Arnaud le voyageur (A2 dictée)
Practice your geographical prepositions and listening comprehension in this lower-intermediate dictation exercise.
Writing
Work on your French translation skills with these travel-themed writing exercises.
🙋 A2 - B1 - B2 ?
These are three of the six CEFR language proficiency levels.
Juste pour rigoler
Comic courtesy of Malachi Ray Rempen, ItchyFeetComic.com
💗 Remerciements
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