french grammar question?

Question

i am writing about a trip to spain. would that be un voyage a l'espagne or a Espagne or au Espagne?
do you use le/la/les at all when you write the name of a country??

thanks.

Answer 1

'en Espagne' is correct. For all country names, to say 'to' or 'in' that country substitute a preposition for the article.

Here's the rule:
no article --> à
le --> au
la --> en
l' --> en
les --> aux

Answer 2

en Espagne.

In French, you take the plane (or train) 'on' (sur) or towards (vers) another country. However, the entire trip was 'in' the country.

If the country's name begins with a vowel or if the name is feminine, then use 'en'
Voyage en Espagne, en France, en Allemagne, en Russie.

If the name begins with a consonnant and is masculine, then use 'au' Voyage au Portugal, au Canada, au Guatemala.

If the name is plural, use 'aux'
Un voyage aux États-Unis, aux Nouvelles-Hébrides (now, we would say 'au Vanuatu').


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You will use the definite articles whenever appropriate. For example, if the country is the subject or direct object, it is appropriate to use them. Which one depends on the gender of the name (there is no neutral in French).
Easy ones are countries with a vowel as first letter , they always get l' : L'Espagne, l'Allemagne, l'Indonésie, l'Italie, l'Écosse, l'Irlande.
One catch: USA (the name is plural) Les États-Unis. Netherlands: Les Pays Bas.

For other countries, you may have to look it up in a dictionary: La France, le Portugal, la Russie, la Lituanie, le Canada, le Mexique, le Honduras, la Chine.

Answer 3

countries get definite articles (L'/le/la etc), think "Viva la France!"

"a l' " or "a la" do not get contracted like "a le" or "a les" do.


so "a l'Espagne" is correct.

Answer 4

Ah oui, c'est correcte. Je pense.......