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French Vocabulary

Countries, Continents & Nationalities

Vocabulary for declaring geographic origin, nationality, and international travel routes.

Level A1 Category Vocabulary

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Lesson Summary

Vocabulary for declaring geographic origin, nationality, and international travel routes.

Vocabulary

Expressing Origin and Nationality

The phrase Je suis français(e) has already been introduced in personal biographies. This lesson expands that knowledge to include country names, the corresponding nationality adjectives, and the prepositions used before geographic names. For the rules governing the contractions au, aux, and du, see definite articles.

Common Countries & Nationalities

Country (gender)	Preposition (in/to)	Nationality (masc/fem)
la France (f)	en France	français / française
l'Espagne (f)	en Espagne	espagnol / espagnole
l'Italie (f)	en Italie	italien / italienne
l'Allemagne (f)	en Allemagne	allemand / allemande
la Chine (f)	en Chine	chinois / chinoise
le Japon (m)	au Japon	japonais / japonaise
le Canada (m)	au Canada	canadien / canadienne
les États-Unis (m pl)	aux États-Unis	américain / américaine
la Belgique (f)	en Belgique	belge (same form)
la Suisse (f)	en Suisse	suisse (same form)

Continents

Continent	Preposition
l'Europe (f)	en Europe
l'Asie (f)	en Asie
l'Afrique (f)	en Afrique
l'Amérique du Nord (f)	en Amérique du Nord
l'Amérique du Sud (f)	en Amérique du Sud

Preposition Rules

The preposition used for 'in' or 'to' a geographic name depends on its gender and number.

Feminine countries and all continents take en: en France, en Europe.
Masculine countries take au (à + le): au Canada, au Japon.
Plural countries take aux (à + les): aux États-Unis.

For 'from' a country, de is used with the appropriate contraction:
- Feminine: de France, d'Espagne
- Masculine: du Canada, du Japon
- Plural: des États-Unis

Examples

Je suis français. J'habite en France.
Masculine nationality, feminine country with en.
Elle est italienne. Elle vient d'Italie.
Feminine nationality; de + vowel becomes d'.
Nous allons au Canada cet été.
Masculine country with au. For the verb aller, see aller present.

Related searches

These are the main phrases this lesson covers:

Countries, Continents & NationalitiesVocabulary for declaring geographic origin, nationality, and international travel routes.Match the spelling and gender of nationality adjectives to the speaker's identity and use the correct preposition before country names.VocabularyA1vocabularyLearn French VocabularyFrench VocabularyExpressing Origin and NationalityThe phrase Je suis français(e) has already been introduced in personal biographies. This lesson expands that knowledge to include country names, the corresponding nationality adjectives, and the prepositions used before geographic names. For the rules governing the contractions au, aux, and du, see definite articles.