Generally speaking, when talking about one of the en islands, you would use the following structure to suggest movement from the place: Je vais à La Réunion – I am going to La Réunion If you are talking about going to one island in particular, you would use à or en. This has nothing to do with gender and is entirely randomised. Il est né aux Lilas – He was born in Les Lilas Je vais aux Lilas – I am going to Les Lilas Je suis le poinçonneur des Lilas – I am the ticket puncher of Lilas When talking about a place with ‘Les’ as part of the name, you must use a plural preposition like so: The name of this commune literally translates as ‘The Lilacs’ and was made famous by Serge Gainsbourg’s song Le Poinçonneur des Lilas, about a ticket puncher at the Metro station there. Je viens de La Rochelle – I am coming from La RochelleĪnd some places have ‘Les’ in front of their name, like Les Lilas, a commune in the suburbs of Paris. Je vais à La Rochelle – I am going to La Rochelle So for ‘feminine’ towns such as this, you should use the following prepositions: In French ‘ à la‘ or ‘ de la‘ is allowed, while ‘ à le‘ becomes au and ‘ de le’ becomes du. La Rochelle, the scenic town on the west coast of France known for its great seafood and rugby team, is one such example. Some towns carry ‘La’ as part of their name. Le Traité du Touquet – the Le Touquet Treaty Je parle du Touquet – I am talking about Le Touquet Je viens du Touquet – I am from Le Touquet Ja vais au Touquet – I am going to Le Touquet Here we can see that his location is Le Havre, and his Twitter handle is Philippe_LH (for Le Havre) but when he comes to describe his job the Le disappears.īecause Le Havre is masculine, he describes himself as the Maire du Havre rather than the Maire de Havre (Anne Hidalgo, for example would describe herself as the Maire de Paris).įor place names with ‘Le’ in front of them, you should use prepositions like this: Edouard Philippe’s twitter profile describes him as the ‘Maire du Havre’, using a masculine preposition Le is the most common preposition for two names (probably something to do with the patriarchy) with Le Havre, La Mans, Le Touquet and the town of Le Tampon on the French overseas territory of La Réunion (more on that later)Ī good example of this is Le Havre, a city in northern France where former Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, who is tipped to one day run for the French presidency, serves as mayor. Have we missed out a phrase that you see all the time? Add your suggestions by emailing įor more words of the day, visit our language section. PEH (pour être honnête) – TBH (to be honest)Ī12C4 (à un de ces quatre) – see you when I see youĬ cho (c’est chaud) – that’s tough/dangerous/difficultĬPG (c’est pas grave) – don’t worry about it STP/SVP (s’il te plaît/s’il vous plaît) – please Definitely not lots of love, as many a red-faced oldie – including former British Prime Minister David Cameron – has found). MDR (mort de rire) – LOL (laugh out loud. Here is a list of some of the most common text abbreviations in France. Ten key French phrases that will make you sound like a localĪs in English, text speak in France is generally casual and better kept between friends, so we don't suggest that you try these out on your boss or your mother-in-law, unless they use them first.The nine noises that will make you sound French.
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