Using au ,ala,aux

Nelly N.A1Kwiziq community member

Using au ,ala,aux

 Where do I use au, a la ,aux when going to a place.e.g je vais à l'hotel is  this correct .

Asked 4 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

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!

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

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. 

Nelly N. asked:

Using au ,ala,aux

 Where do I use au, a la ,aux when going to a place.e.g je vais à l'hotel is  this correct .

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