Transcript of the video

I went to the cinema and chose the film at random.

Do you hear the mistake in this sentence?

Do you hesitate a lot between "à la", "au", "à le" when you speak French? That's normal.

In this video, I'll explain the rule and give you examples to help you understand and integrate it.

Welcome to this new French lesson. I am Elisabeth and welcome to HelloFrench.

Every week, I post videos to help you improve your French.

When you have a feminine word that begins with a consonant or an aspirated H, you must use the preposition "à la".

I drink a lot of peppermint syrup. I am looking for a job that matches my ambitions.

So, you see, "height" is a word with an aspirated h. So I'm going to use the determiner "the". I say "to the height".

When the preposition "à" is in front of a determiner and a masculine noun, it changes to "au". "À le" does not exist.

You must always say "to".

"I ate at the restaurant."

"I chose this film at random." you have an aspirated H, so it's definitely "at".

In the plural, whether feminine or masculine, it will always be "a u x ".

"I made an apple pie"

If the word starts with a vowel or a silent H, you'll use "a l'", so "a" and "l'".

"I'm sleeping at the hotel tonight."

"I'm cold, I'm going inside."

You've heard me talk about a silent H and an aspirated H, which may seem a little complex to you, so I'm going to explain the difference and, above all, how to tell the difference between a silent H and an aspirated H, because it's going to help you choose the right preposition.

When there's a silent H, it means we don't need to take it into account. It's as if it didn't exist. It's as if the word starts with the vowel.

This is the case, for example, with the words "l'hôtel" and "l'homme".

This has no impact on the link with the preceding word.

You pretend there's no H, so you make the right connection as you would if the word began with a vowel.

For example, I'll say, "The most beautiful hotels are in Paris."

Do you hear me? I'm making the connection. "The most beautiful hotels."

The determiner of these nouns will be an "l'".

Conversely, in words beginning with an aspirated "h", there will be an impact on the link.

"Height" is a word that begins with an aspirated "h".

"Hedgehog is a word that begins with an aspirated H."

You see here, in determining, it's going to be the and the. It's not going to be l'. When you have an aspirated H, there's no connection.

I don't say "beautiful hedgehogs".

No, I say "beautiful hedgehogs". The connection is broken.

Download the exercise sheet in the video description to test yourself on this lesson.

That's it for today.

I hope this video will help you stop confusing all those little words that are a headache for people learning French.

If you liked the video, of course, put a "like" and if you're new, subscribe and activate the bell so you don't miss any of my videos.

See you soon