French grammar
Au, à la, à l': when à and le contract in French
French does not allow à followed by le. The two fuse into au: je vais au cinéma, never à le cinéma. Feminine nouns keep both words (à la gare), and nouns starting with a vowel or silent h take à l' whatever their gender (à l'école, à l'hôtel). Three shapes, one system, and the same fusion shows up again with de (du, des).
In short
- à + le always fuses into au: je vais au cinéma, au restaurant. There is no à le in French.
- Feminine nouns keep both words: à la gare, à la plage.
- Before a vowel or silent h the article shortens instead of fusing: à l'école, à l'hôtel, for either gender.
- Plural: à + les = aux (sounds like au). The same fusion happens with de: de + le = du, de + les = des.
The squeeze
Some words open with a vowel, and le/la can't stand next to one — they squeeze to «l'»: «l'école» — the school. You know this move: d'où, j'aime, n'aime. It even swallows a silent h: «l'hôtel» — the hotel (oh-TELL). One catch: «l'» hides the word's side — but «une école» and «un hôtel» give the secret away.
L'école
the school
L'hôtel
the hotel
C'est une école
it's a school
Il y a un café
there's a café
C'est un hôtel
it's a hotel
Je n'aime pas le café
I don't like coffee.
J'aime l'école
I like school
Going places
«je vais» — I'm going (zhuh VAY). Then French swallows a word: à + le fuse into «au» (oh): «Je vais au cinéma» — I'm going to the movies. Feminine (la) words keep both pieces — «à la gare» — but «le» never survives after à.
Je vais au cinéma
I'm going to the movies
Je vais au parc
I'm going to the park
Où est le musée ?
where is the museum?
Je vais à la gare
I'm going to the station.
Je vais à la plage
I'm going to the beach
The squeeze goes traveling
Vowel-start places squeeze after «à» too: «je vais à l'école», «à l'hôtel». No new word is needed: «à» stays, and the article shortens to l' exactly as it does on its own. Three shapes, one system: au cinéma, à la gare, à l'école.
Je vais à l'école
I'm going to school
Je vais à l'hôtel
I'm going to the hotel.
J'aime le cinéma
I like the movies.
Tu vas où ?
where are you going?
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Keep going
- Grammar guideAller in FrenchThe French verb aller (to go) in the present: je vais, tu vas, on va, how to say where you are going with au and à la, and how on va makes an invitation.
- Grammar guideLe vs laHow French noun gender works: when to use le, la, un, une and l', why meaning does not decide it, and how to learn the gender with the word.
- Word listPlaces vocabularyBeginner French words for places in town (la gare, le parc, l'hôtel) and rooms at home, with gender, pronunciation and audio from the Open Lingo course.
- ToolNumbers 1 to 100 and converterEvery French number from 0 to 100 in a printable table, a converter that writes out any number up to 999,999, and the rules behind 70, 80, 90 and et un.