au, à la, à l' et aux

Some verbs in French work with the preposition à, which can mean "at", "to" or "in", or sometimes not translate into English at all (like with jouer, for example - je joue au tennis = I play tennis).

Aller (to go) is one verb that works with à, when it translates as "to" - Je vais à la - I go / am going to the post office.
Être is another example - in this case à would translate as "at" or "in" - Je suis à la poste - I am at / in the post office.

Parler + à = to talk to - je parle au - I am talking to the headteacher.
Donner + à = to give to - Il donne ses devoirs au - he gives his homework to the teacher.
s'intéresser + à = to be interested in - Elle s'intéresse aux - she is interested in films.

As you can see in some of the examples above, we need to be aware of how à works with the different definite articles (le, la, l' and les):

1. Feminine - very simply - à la	Je vais à la poste. Je parle à la fille.
2. Vowel or silent "h" - very simply - à l'	Il va à l'hôtel. Elle donne un cadeau à l'enfant.
3. Masculine - à and le combine and become "au"	Tu vas au cinéma? Elles s'intéressent au football.
4. Plural: Similar to the masculine, à + les combine and become "aux"	Il va aux États-Unis. Le professeur parle aux élèves.

So, to summarise:

à with le =
à with la
à with l'
à with les

The following pages give you practice in using these structures.

au, à la, à l' et aux - Explanation

# A. C. Balaam #