"My home" in French = "chez moi".
Je vais chez moi = I'm going to my home.
The preposition chez can be used with a person/name, a stress pronoun (moi, toi, lui, elle...), or with a business/profession's name (dentist,...) to mean to or at [someone]'s place/shop/house :
Nous allons chez Marc.
We're going to Marc's place.
On se retrouvera chez Lucie.
We'll meet at Lucie's place.
It can also be used in a more general sense to express at home or in [someone]'s life.
ATTENTION: Case of à la maison vs chez moi
When used in this context, maison is closer to home than literally house: and just as in English, you would never say I'm going to my home, but I'm going home. Thus, in French, you will never use à ma maison / à ta maison..., but you will use instead the generic à la maison.
Here, you can also use chez moi (at/to my place) as well as à la maison (at home/home):
Here, you can also use chez moi (at/to my place) as well as à la maison (at home/home):
When talking about someone else's home, once again you cannot use à ta maison, à sa maison in French: therefore, the only solution is to use chez :
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Nous allons chez Marc.
We're going to Marc's place.
Il vient chez toi plus tard.
He's coming to your place later.
Jean va chez le dentiste.
John is going to the dentist's.
Je rentre à la maison.
I'm going home.
Je suis chez le coiffeur.
I'm at the hairdresser's.
Ils sont chez eux.
They're home.
On se retrouvera chez Lucie.
We'll meet at Lucie's place.
Je rentre chez moi.
I'm going back home.
Je suis passé par chez elle ce matin.
I passed by her place this morning.
broader sense
Faites comme chez vous
Make yourself at home
Tout va bien chez vous?
Is everything good with you?
Q&A Forum 9 questions, 13 answers
AlexKwiziq community member
"I'm going to my home" - why is it not used in French ? I'm English and we say it frequently in England.
Asked 5 months ago
Alex asked:View original
"I'm going to my home" - why is it not used in French ? I'm English and we say it frequently in England.
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IvyKwiziq community member
Chez vs. à la
Why would you say "chez pharmacie" instead of "à la pharmacie"?
Asked 5 months ago
Hi Ivy,
You can say -
Je vais chez le pharmacien/la pharmacienne ( pharmacist)
or
à la pharmacie ( shop)
Hope that helps!
Chris Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Whenever the location signifies a person, you use chez. Chez le docteur, chez le pharmacien, chez moi, etc.
Otherwise it is à: à l'hôpial, à la pharmacie, à la maison, etc.
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ClaudiaKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Salut a tous
Ils sont chez eux
The audio sounds strange
Asked 8 months ago
Bonjour Claudia !
Thanks to your feedback, the audio files for this lesson have been updated and much improved :)
Merci beaucoup et bonne journée !
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JohnKwiziq community member
Aurélie va manger chez ses parents.
Can you add an apostrophe and say:
Aurélie is going to eat at her parents'
Asked 10 months ago
John asked:View original
Aurélie va manger chez ses parents.
Can you add an apostrophe and say:
Aurélie is going to eat at her parents'
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Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
rentre not conjugated
I just noticed rentre is the only verb not conjugated in expressions involving chez, in this lesson. This is not confirmed in the lesson. Is that because it translates as to go/return home and is being used in connection with the word for home? Merci.
Asked 1 year ago
Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Sorry, I just realized that rentre is conjugated but it just looks like it is not conjugated in the Je and Il/elle/on forms.
Chris Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Yes, that's correct. Note also that the infinitive is rentrer. So, the missing r at the end is an indication that this must be a conjugated form and can't be the infinitive.
Robin asked:View original
rentre not conjugated
I just noticed rentre is the only verb not conjugated in expressions involving chez, in this lesson. This is not confirmed in the lesson. Is that because it translates as to go/return home and is being used in connection with the word for home? Merci.
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RantKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Going to my home
"and just as in English, you would never say "I'm going to my home""
I think saying "never" here is incorrect. I can think of situations when I might say this.
Asked 1 year ago
LauraKwiziq team member
Bonjour Rant,
Thanks for writing. I'm American and would never say "I'm going to my home." Mostly I would say "I'm going home." In rare situations, I might say "I'm going to my house," such as in response to someone offering their house instead, but I honestly cannot think of a single situation in which I'd say "I'm going to my home" - it just sounds weird.
Rant asked:View original
Going to my home
"and just as in English, you would never say "I'm going to my home""
I think saying "never" here is incorrect. I can think of situations when I might say this.
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DebraKwiziq community member
Regarding the question « I am going to Lucie’s house « from the lesson and the video included in the lesson, I understand chez to mean home and maison
and maison to mean house. So why is my answer nous avons à la maison incorrect in the test? The answer was chez in the test
Asked 1 year ago
Hi Debra,
Just to add to what Chris has just said:
Nous allons chez Lucie = I am going to Lucie's house.
I think what you were thinking of is, "Nous allons à la maison" not 'havons' which makes no sense .
You cannot in this case say "Nous allons à la maison de Lucie" which sounds like what a very young child might say.
Hope this helps!
Chris Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Hi Debra,
"Nous avons à la maison" is grammatically incorrect, it means "We have at the house." You could say:
Nous étions à la maison. -- We were at the house. Or, as the topic suggests:
Nous étions chez nous. -- We were at our place. (can also mean "at home")
As a rough guideline, whenever you would, in English, say "at someone's place" you use "chez" in French.
"À la maison" is also in common use and means "at the house" or "at home".
Tu es où ? -- Je suis à la maison. -- Where are you? I am at the house (at home).
-- Chris.
Tom Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Chez is one of those wonderful Fench words that conveys a multitude of meanings.
As well as the meaning cited above (at someone's place) it also has the following uses:
of/with: C'est une conviction fondamentale chez moi - It is a fundamental belief of mine (with me).
in (the works of): Le rôle de la socialisation chez Zola - The role of socialisation in (the works of) Zola.
among: L'hypochondrie est répandue chez les Français - Hypochondria is widespread among the French.
in (possesive pronoun) country : La réligion est sur le déclin chez nous - Religion is on the decline in our country.
There are bound to be more uses that I cannot think of.
Debra asked:View original
Regarding the question « I am going to Lucie’s house « from the lesson and the video included in the lesson, I understand chez to mean home and maison
and maison to mean house. So why is my answer nous avons à la maison incorrect in the test? The answer was chez in the test
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JenniferKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Se retrouver versus rencontrer?
Is there a difference in usage between se retrouver and rencontrer? I think they both mean to meet.
Asked 2 years ago
Ron Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Bonjour Jennifer,
Peut-être la dictionnaire Collins-Robert vous aideriez:
se retrouver
reciprocal reflexive verb
to meet, to meet up
⇒ Ils se sont retrouvés devant le cinéma. They met up in front of the cinema.
reflexive verb
(= s'orienter) to find one's way around
se retrouver dans qch [calculs, dossiers, désordre] to find one's way around sth
(= finir)
se retrouver quelque part to find o.s. somewhere, to end up somewhere
se retrouver seul to find o.s. alone
se retrouver sans argent to find o.s. with no money
(autre locution)
s'y retrouver (informal) (financièrement) to break even
rencontrer (ʀɑ̃kɔ̃tʀe )
transitive verb
[personne] to meet
(= trouver)
[mot, expression] to come across
[difficultés, résistance] to meet with
Il me semble que les deux sont synonymes.
Bonne chance !
Ron
Jennifer asked:View original
Se retrouver versus rencontrer?
Is there a difference in usage between se retrouver and rencontrer? I think they both mean to meet.
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JohnKwiziq community member
Tout va bien chez vous
Hi - just a bit confused on this one.
I noticed we have used va and not allez, but we have used vous and not toi (ie va with toi, and allez with vous). Is that because "va" is referring to "Tout" being masculine singular and not the person we are talking to? ie - can you say "tout va bien chez toi" to someone familiar or is this a fixed expression..??
Asked 3 years ago
LauraKwiziq team member
Bonjour John,
The subject of the verb is tout - tout va bien = everything is going well.
Yes, you can say tout va bien chez toi, tout va bien chez moi, tout va bien chez nous, etc.
Note that if the subect were tu, the correct conjugation is vas: tu vas, il va.
John asked:View original
Tout va bien chez vous
Hi - just a bit confused on this one.
I noticed we have used va and not allez, but we have used vous and not toi (ie va with toi, and allez with vous). Is that because "va" is referring to "Tout" being masculine singular and not the person we are talking to? ie - can you say "tout va bien chez toi" to someone familiar or is this a fixed expression..??
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