Sandrine's Tutoring Blog

Students always hesitate when talking about going to countries and cities in French. Should I use à, en, au?

Actually, it's very easy if you know the genre of the country you are going to. Some countries are feminine (La France, La Chine, La Suède) and you must use EN with those. Je vais EN Chine, je vis EN France.

Some countries are masculine, (le Portugal, le Vietnam, le Lesotho) and then you use AU:

Je vais AU portugal, je vis AU Vietnam

As for cities, it's usually "à":

Je vis à Vienne, je vais à Paris, j'étudie à St-Petersbourg, je me suis mariée à Marseille

This rule is only valid...

Why is it that you want to learn a new language? Is it because you want to travel there for vacation? are you going to move for your job and need to be able to communicate with the local colleagues? Or is it just because you are taking the subject in school as a complement to your other classes?

In any case you should be motivated when learning a new language. You can find that motivation within you or try to find information on the country that speaks the language you want to learn, their culture, their politics, or even their cooking. There will always be something in this country (or these...