De mon pays à mon quartier
Primary 4 · French
De mon pays à mon quartier
Lesson 3 of 4
35 min
Byiringiro's family is spread out. He lives in Huye, his uncle works in Kenya, his aunt lives in Uganda and his big cousin studies in the United States.
In English, we say in every time. In French there are five different little words. Today you will learn which one to choose.
Byiringiro habite à Huye, au Rwanda, dans la Province du Sud. Son oncle travaille à Nairobi, au Kenya. Sa tante habite à Kampala, en Ouganda. Son cousin étudie aux États-Unis. Et sa grand-mère habite dans un petit village près de Huye.
Son oncle = his uncle, sa tante = his aunt, travaille = works, étudie = studies, près de = near.
| Use | For | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| à | a town or a city | à Kigali, à Huye, à Musanze |
| au | a masculine country (le …) | au Rwanda, au Burundi, au Kenya, au Canada |
| en | a feminine country (la …), or a country that starts with a vowel | en Tanzanie, en France, en Ouganda |
| aux | a country with a plural name (les …) | aux États-Unis |
| dans | a province, district, neighbourhood or village | dans la Province du Nord, dans le district de Gasabo, dans mon quartier |
Watch out: l'Ouganda is a masculine country, but it starts with a vowel, so we say en Ouganda. Au Ouganda is wrong: it is too hard to say!
Write three sentences about people you know, using a different little word each time: Ma tante habite à Rubavu. Mon ami habite au Burundi. Ma grand-mère habite dans un village.
Tip
Town, he, she, many, inside. A town takes à. A he-country (le) takes au. A she-country (la) or a vowel takes en. A country with many parts (les) takes aux. A district or neighbourhood you are inside takes dans.
J'habite ___ Rwanda.
Answer: au (le Rwanda is masculine).
Mon oncle habite ___ Musanze.
Answer: à (Musanze is a town).
Ma tante travaille ___ Tanzanie.
Answer: en (la Tanzanie is feminine).
Keza habite ___ le district de Gasabo.
Answer: dans.
Why do we say en Ouganda and not au Ouganda?
Answer: because Ouganda starts with a vowel, so it takes en.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa.
Vérifie
J'habite ___ Kigali.
