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.
Jean va chez le dentiste.
John is going to the dentist's.
Je suis chez le coiffeur.
I'm at the hairdresser's.
It can also be used in a more general sense to express "at home" or "in <someone's> life".
Ils sont chez eux.
They're home.
Tout va bien chez vous?
Is everything good with you?
Faites comme chez vous
Make yourself at home
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", 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):
Je rentre chez moi.
I'm going back home.
Je rentre à la maison.
I'm going 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:
Il vient chez toi plus tard.
He's coming to your place later.
Je suis passé par chez elle ce matin.
I passed by her place this morning.
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
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.
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.
broader sense
Faites comme chez vous
Make yourself at home
Tout va bien chez vous?
Is everything good with you?
Q&A
Chris
Kwiziq community member
17/08/18
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.
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
17/08/18
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!
Tom
Kwiziq community member
17/08/18
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
Kwiziq community member
17/08/18
Ron
Kwiziq community member
8/08/17
Laura
Kwiziq language super star
25/08/16
Rant
Kwiziq community member
9 September 2018
1 reply
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.
Laura
Kwiziq language super star
8 October 2018
8/10/18
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.