French Prepositions


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Prépositions

One of the eight French parts of speech, prepositions are short but essential words which are placed after a verb, noun, or adjective in order to indicate a relationship between that word and the noun or pronoun that follows.

Par exemple…

Je vais à Paris.		I’m going to Paris.
une vie de crime		a life of crime
Cette question est difficile pour* moi.*		This question is difficult for me.

Prepositions are tricky because, while they exist in both French and English, there is no nice one-to-one correlation between them. Many French prepositions have more than one English equivalent, depending on how they are used – and vice versa. In addition, a preposition is often needed in French where none is used in English – and vice versa again. This is one of those areas of grammar that you will likely continue to struggle with for a long time. But with time and practice, you’ll get the hang of it.

Here are the most common French prepositions and their typical English translations. Click the links for detailed lessons.

		Notes
à	to, at, in	contraction with le and les may be required
après	after
avant	before
avec	with
chez	at the home/office of, among
contre	against, versus
dans	in
de	from, of, about	contraction with le and les may be required
depuis	since, for
derrière	in back of, behind
devant	in front of
durant	during, while
en	in, to
entre	between
envers	toward
environ	approximately, around
jusque	until, up to
malgré	despite
par	by, through
parmi	among
pendant	during
pour	for
sans	without
sauf	except
selon	according to
sous	under
suivant	according to
sur	on
vers	toward, near

A group of words that, together, function as a preposition is called a prepositional phrase.

Conseil concis

The noun following a French preposition can sometimes be replaced by an object pronoun.

Related lessons

French preposition lesson plans

The House (Lesson, 6th-9th grade)
Où suis-je ? (Worksheet, 6th-9th grade)
Prepositions (Lesson, 7th-9th grade)

Prepositions

Prépositions