Which variation of 'to' (en, au, aux, à) should be used when describing 'going to' a country which is in masculine, feminine and/or in plural form?

In some cases, the preposition ‘à’ is used to signify going ‘to’ a place in a sentence. However, sometimes this preposition takes on different forms or changes entirely based on the gender of the noun which follows afterwards. In this case, we are going to look at the example of countries, because they are commonly used nouns after this preposition in conversation and writing. Masculine nouns: The preposition ‘au’ is formed when à + le are combined together, with ‘le’ being the masculine definite article. For example, Japan is a masculine proper noun, le Japon. Therefore, if we wanted to say ‘I go to Japan’, the correct preposition to use in the sentence would be ‘au’. Je vais au Japon = I go to Japan NOT - Je vais à le Japon Feminine nouns: The preposition ‘en’ is formed when à + la are combined together, with ‘la’ being the feminine definite article. For example, France is a feminine proper noun, la France. So, to take the previous example again, in order to say ‘I go to France’, the correct preposition in this case would be ‘en’. E.g. Je vais en France = I go to France NOT – Je vais à la France NOTE – ‘en’ is a preposition which is specific to countries which are feminine proper nouns only. When talking about other places which are not countries, such as the ice rink ‘la patinoire’, the combination of à + la would remain unchanged in the sentence. E.g. Je vais à la patinoire = I go to the ice rink Plural nouns : Some countries are in the plural form, such as the United States ‘les États-Unis. The preposition to use for such nouns is ‘aux’. The plural definite article, ‘les’, is replaced by this preposition. Je vais aux États-Unis = I go to the United States EXCEPTIONS: À Malte, à la Réunion En Corse, En Nouvelle-Zélande À = J’habite/Je vais à Paris, à Londres, à Berlin (à is usually left on its own with city names)

Answered by Olena S. French tutor

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