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To and From + country

Je vais en France OU au France ???? Je viens de France OU du France ?????

How to know which sentence is correct?

Before explaning this French rule, note that:

To go to + country = aller + “au “OU “en” + pays
To come from + country = venir + « de» OU « du » OR arriver + « de » OU « du » + pays
To live in + country = vivre + « en» OU « au » + pays

The French rule is :

When the country is feminine : La France, La Belgique, La Pologne
when the country starts with “L’ “ : L’Allemagne, L’Iran, L’Irak, L’Irlande :
= you will use : “EN” and “DE”

When the coutry is masculine : Le Portugal, Le Maroc, Le Royaume-Uni :
= you will use : “AU” and “DU”

Easy! Well easy for those who know each feminin and masculine

So here is a tip to help you if you don’t know the gender :

All the countries, ending with an “-e” are used with “EN” and “DE”,

Example : Je vis EN France mais je viens DE Belgique.

Example : J’arrive DE Finlande mais je suis DE Suède.

As usual in French, there is always an exception, 2 countries ending with “-e” will required “AU” and “DU” : le Mexique et Le Mozambique.

All the countries starting by a vowel are used with “EN” and “D’ ” (for DU)

Example : Je viens D’Iran mais je vis EN Albanie

All the countries with a plural are used with « AUX» and “DES” (plural of DU)

Example : J’arrives DES Etas-Unis et je vais AUX Pays-BAS.

Now you’re ready to talk about countries!

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