When is it more appropriate to use “en” vs. “dans” when you want to say “in” in French?
Examples:
I am in the car.
I am in America.
I am in the living room.
The toys are in the box.
The package will arrive in two days.
I can read the book in two hours.
I'm leaving in ten minutes.
He's in the house.
How do you know which preposition to use? Is there a generic rule to apply?
This mostly depends on the size of the place you're referring to. In fact, you could also add "à" in your question.
Here are some general rules.
En: for large places with a feminine name
In general, we use "en" for large places, like countries or regions, when they are singular and feminine names or begin with a vowel. That is in fact, countries or regions for which you would use "la" or "l'" to refer to them:
Countries: En France, en Allemagne, en Italie, en Grande-Bretagne, en Iran (masculine name, but begins with a vowel)
Regions: En Auvergne, en Île-de-France, en Picardie, en Californie, en Corse
Au/aux: for large places with a masculine or plural name
For other country names, we use "au" or "aux" (for plural). That is in fact, countries or regions for which you would use "le" or "les" to refer to them:
Countries: Aux USA, au Canada, au Japon, au Bénin
Regions: Au Kamchatka, au Connemara
À: for local places
For localized places, like cities, towns or villages (and sometimes small countries), we use "à":
Cities: À Paris, à Lyon, à Bordeaux
Small countries: À Monaco, à Taïwan, à Cuba
Note that Andorra is not bigger than Cuba, but we say "En Andorre".
Dans: for very localized places
For very localized places, like a house or a box, we use "dans":
Dans ma maison, dans cette boîte, dans le jardin
Exceptions to the rules
There are however exceptions (otherwise it wouldn't be fun):
Regions: Dans le Berry, dans le Limousin
Cities: En Avignon
Generic places: Dans le ciel, dans la mer
Expressing time
To express a lapse of time to wait for, we always use "dans":
Je pars au Canada dans 3 jours, dans 1 mois, dans un siècle
To express a lapse of time necessary to achieve an action, we use "en":
Le tour du monde en 80 jours
In general "en" is used for abstract ideas while "dans" is used for physical locations.
When replacing in, the situations where you have to use en instead of dans are the following:
When depicting a situation, without articles
My son is in sixth grade
Mon fils est en sixième
For some locutions
In front of...
En face de...
For feminine continents, countries and regions names (all continents are feminine, and almost all countries are feminine, PLUS some masculine country name are also used with en)
I'm going to Germany
Je vais en allemagne
Exception: Quebec (masculine). note the use of au instead of dans used for large places like countries / regions
I'm going to Quebec Je vais au Québec
For season names
I go to the pool in summer
Je vais à la piscine en été
And some other very special cases
In return
En contrepartie / En retour
Note that this list only covers the cases where en is used when translating from in. You'll find other uses of en in other occasions.
In situations where “en” and “dans” are usually translated by “in” a useful guide is to note that “en” is used immediately before a noun, whereas “dans” is followed by an article. Compare
aller en ville
aller dans la ville
But as with all such guides beware:
en l'absence de (in the absence of)
Here are a few useful expressions that use “en” which would most likely be translated by “in”.
être en danger (to be in danger)
être en train de (to be in the process of)
croire en Dieu (to believe in God)
être en bonne santé (to be in good health)
être en difficulté (to be in difficulty)
