Where do I use au, a la ,aux when going to a place.e.g je vais à l'hotel is this correct .
Using au ,ala,aux
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Using au ,ala,aux
Hi Nelly,
Je vais à l'hôtel = I am going to the hotel
is correct.
Je vais au marché = I am going to the market
Je vais aux magasins = I am going to the shops
Je vais à la gare = I am going to the station
etc.
I hope this helps!
To think about it start with whether the noun is plural - «à les» always contracts to aux. If the noun is singular, does it start with a vowel or silent h? If so, it will take «à l'....» regardless of noun gender (there is a relatively long list of nouns that start with an h that is not silent, but many are uncommon). Finally, if neither of these 2 conditions apply , the gender of the noun determines use: feminine (singular) nouns will take «à la» and masculine (singular) nouns will take «au». Basically use the same process for determining de la, de l', du or des. There is/was a good video in the lessons on this Definite articles contract with à and de in French (French Contracted Articles)%252Fsearch%253Fs%253Ddefinite%252Barticle%252Bcontractions , but looking at this lesson I think it may have been removed.
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