Mme Durand habite à la campagne (Mrs Durand lives in the countryside)

Herb C.C1Kwiziq community member

Mme Durand habite à la campagne (Mrs Durand lives in the countryside)

Why is "à la" used and not "dans"?

She lives, physically, in the countryside.

It seems if she came "from the countryside" it would be "à la".

Is this just one of those "this is the way it is, and not subject to the dans/en rules"?

This question relates to:French lesson "in the countryside"
Asked 2 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Herb,

You would use à la in French to say in the countryside, at the seaside, in the mountains, at the post office, all feminine nouns in French 

Elle est à la campagne, à la mer, à la montagne,  à la poste

For masculine nouns you will use 'au' or à l' -

elle est à l'hôtel she is at the hotel 

elle est au bureau = she is at the office

If you wanted to say -

she is/comes from the countryside 

you would say 

elle est/vient de la campagne 

Hope this helps!

 

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Herb,

I see this as "habiter" in the sense "avoir domicile" used as an intransitive plus preposition.

Therefore we have "habiter à".

There is further information here:-

https://www.wordreference.com/fren/habiter

Hope this helps.

Jim

Mme Durand habite à la campagne (Mrs Durand lives in the countryside)

Why is "à la" used and not "dans"?

She lives, physically, in the countryside.

It seems if she came "from the countryside" it would be "à la".

Is this just one of those "this is the way it is, and not subject to the dans/en rules"?

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