Talking about vacation plans is one of the most common conversations in French — at the office water cooler, at a family lunch, between friends in late June. The grammar lesson hidden inside is a quick tour of three high-frequency systems: the futur proche for what you are going to do, the country prepositions that change with gender (en France, au Canada, aux États-Unis), and the colloquial on that has almost completely replaced nous in spoken French.
This A2 dialogue between Anne and Marc captures the everyday rhythm of vacation planning, with the grammar woven naturally through every line.
The dialogue
Anne : Tu pars en vacances cet été ? Marc : Oui, je vais en Italie. Et toi ? Anne : Moi aussi, je pars. Je vais aux Pays-Bas voir ma sœur. Marc : Sympa ! Et toi, tu pars avec qui ? Anne : Avec mon mari et les enfants. Et toi ? Marc : Moi, je pars avec ma famille. On part deux semaines, début août. Anne : Et vous logez où ? Marc : Au début, on a réservé un hôtel à Rome. Après, on a loué une maison à la campagne, en Toscane. Anne : La chance ! Profitez bien.
Two friends, three countries, and almost every preposition you need for travel.
Grammar in action
Tu pars en vacances ? — the idiom partir en vacances
The opening question, Tu pars en vacances cet été ?, uses the fixed expression partir en vacances ("to go on vacation"). Three grammatical points:
- Partir, not aller. French distinguishes partir (to leave, to set off) from aller (to go to). For vacation, partir is the natural verb, evoking the act of leaving home. Aller en vacances is acceptable but feels less idiomatic.
- En vacances with no article. The expression is fixed: en vacances, en voyage, en mission, en stage. No des, les, mes, etc.
- Cet été ("this summer"). Cet is the masculine singular demonstrative used before a vowel sound. Été starts with a vowel, so we use cet, not ce. The same rule produces cet hôtel, cet homme, cet automne.
The verb partir is part of the small group of -ir verbs that follow the partir/sortir/dormir pattern (3rd-group irregulars without -iss-). Present tense: je pars, tu pars, il part, nous partons, vous partez, ils partent. The -s and -t endings of singular forms are silent.
Tu pars en vacances cet été ?
Are you going on vacation this summer?
Nous partons trois semaines au mois d'août.
We're leaving for three weeks in August.
Je pars en voyage d'affaires demain.
I'm leaving on a business trip tomorrow.
Je vais en Italie — futur proche + country preposition
Marc answers with Je vais en Italie. Two structures stack here:
The futur proche. Aller + infinitive expresses near or planned future. The structure is aller (conjugated) + bare infinitive: je vais partir, tu vas voir, on va manger.
But notice: in Je vais en Italie, there is no infinitive! That's because aller is also the everyday verb for "to go" — not a futur proche helper here, but the main verb meaning "I'm going to Italy". Context tells you which is which. If a verb in the infinitive follows, aller is auxiliary (je vais voir, "I'm going to see"); if a destination follows, aller is lexical (je vais en Italie, "I'm going to Italy").
The preposition for countries. This is one of the most-tested rules in beginner French. The preposition to / in with a country depends on the country's gender:
| Country gender | Preposition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Feminine singular | en | en France, en Italie, en Espagne, en Allemagne |
| Masculine singular starting with consonant | au | au Canada, au Japon, au Portugal, au Mexique |
| Masculine singular starting with vowel | en | en Iran, en Iraq, en Israël, en Uruguay |
| Plural | aux | aux États-Unis, aux Pays-Bas, aux Philippines |
Most European countries are feminine: la France, l'Italie, l'Espagne, l'Allemagne, la Belgique, la Suisse → en. Notable masculine European countries: le Portugal, le Danemark, le Luxembourg → au. The big plural countries: les États-Unis, les Pays-Bas, les Philippines → aux.
A useful generalization: countries ending in -e are usually feminine (la France, l'Italie, la Russie), with a few exceptions (le Mexique, le Mozambique, le Cambodge, le Zimbabwe, le Belize). Countries not ending in -e are usually masculine (le Canada, le Japon, le Maroc, le Brésil).
Je vais en Italie cet été.
I'm going to Italy this summer.
Mon frère habite au Canada depuis dix ans.
My brother has lived in Canada for ten years.
Nous partons aux Pays-Bas la semaine prochaine.
We're going to the Netherlands next week.
Cities take à
A separate rule applies to cities: use à regardless of gender or starting letter. À Paris, à Rome, à Tokyo, à New York. Marc says un hôtel à Rome — the city is Rome, so à.
The few exceptions are cities that historically include an article: au Havre (Le Havre), au Caire (Le Caire), à La Haye (The Hague), au Mans, à La Rochelle. These keep their article and follow the article rules.
On a réservé un hôtel à Rome.
We reserved a hotel in Rome.
J'habite à Paris depuis cinq ans.
I've lived in Paris for five years.
Mon train arrive au Havre demain matin.
My train arrives at Le Havre tomorrow morning.
Avec qui ? — questions with prepositions
Marc asks Tu pars avec qui ? ("Who are you going with?"). The preposition stays attached to its question word in French — never stranded at the end as in English.
- French: Avec qui tu pars ? (preposition first)
- English: "Who are you going with?" (preposition stranded at the end)
Other examples:
- Pour qui c'est ? — "Who is it for?"
- De quoi tu parles ? — "What are you talking about?"
- À quoi tu penses ? — "What are you thinking about?"
This is one of the most pervasive English-French structural differences. English routinely strands prepositions ("Where are you from?", "What are you working on?"); French keeps them with the question word ("D'où viens-tu ?", "Sur quoi tu travailles ?").
Avec qui tu pars en vacances ?
Who are you going on vacation with?
Pour qui sont ces fleurs ?
Who are these flowers for?
D'où viens-tu ?
Where are you from?
On part deux semaines — on as everyday "we"
Marc's answer, On part deux semaines, uses on to mean "we" — Marc and his family. Two grammatical observations:
On is grammatically singular. The verb is part, not partons. On triggers third-person singular conjugation regardless of how many people it actually refers to. On parle, on mange, on a fini, on est arrivé.
On has hijacked nous in everyday speech. In conversational French, on now does almost all the work of "we". Nous survives in writing and formal contexts. A typical exchange:
- Qu'est-ce qu'on fait ce soir ? (everyday)
- Que faisons-nous ce soir ? (formal, written, or stilted in casual speech)
Even more striking, native speakers often combine the two: Nous, on part demain — "We're leaving tomorrow", with nous as topic and on as grammatical subject. This is the pattern to use when you want to be emphatic about who "we" is.
The only situation where modern French still prefers nous: when "we" is the direct object or after a preposition (nous and on don't share these slots). Avec nous (not avec on); Il nous voit (not Il on voit).
On part deux semaines, début août.
We're leaving for two weeks, early August.
Nous, on adore l'Italie.
We love Italy.
On y va ?
Shall we go?
On a loué une maison — passé composé with avoir
Marc says on a réservé un hôtel… on a loué une maison. Two passé composés in a row, both with the auxiliary avoir.
The structure: subject + present of avoir + past participle. For regular -er verbs (the vast majority of French verbs), the participle ends in -é: réservé, loué, mangé, parlé, regardé.
Why avoir and not être? French uses être as auxiliary for a small list of motion verbs (aller, venir, partir, arriver, rester, monter, descendre, etc.) and for all pronominal (reflexive) verbs. Everything else takes avoir. Réserver and louer are transitive verbs taking direct objects (réserver un hôtel, louer une maison), so they use avoir.
On a réservé un hôtel à Rome.
We reserved a hotel in Rome.
On a loué une maison à la campagne.
We rented a house in the countryside.
J'ai mangé une pizza délicieuse hier.
I had a delicious pizza yesterday.
A subtlety: the verb louer is one of those rare French verbs that means both "to rent (from someone)" and "to rent out (to someone)". Context disambiguates. Le propriétaire loue son appartement could mean either "the owner rents (out) his apartment" or — less commonly — "the owner is renting (some) apartment". Usually, when louer takes a possessive (son appartement), it means rent out; when it takes an indefinite (un appartement), it means rent.
À la campagne — fixed location expressions
Une maison à la campagne uses à la campagne ("in the countryside"), one of a small set of fixed location expressions:
- à la campagne — in the countryside
- à la mer — at the seaside
- à la montagne — in the mountains
- à la plage — at the beach
- en ville — in town / downtown
- en banlieue — in the suburbs
Note that en ville and en banlieue drop the article entirely — these are idiomatic. À la campagne keeps the article, paralleling à la mer, à la montagne.
On a loué une maison à la campagne.
We rented a house in the countryside.
Je préfère partir à la mer en été.
I prefer going to the seaside in summer.
Mes parents habitent en banlieue.
My parents live in the suburbs.
Common mistakes
These are the predictable trouble spots for English speakers planning vacation in French.
❌ Je vais à Italie.
Incorrect — countries take *en, au, aux*, not *à*.
✅ Je vais en Italie.
I'm going to Italy.
The preposition à is for cities (à Paris, à Rome); for countries, use en, au, or aux depending on gender and number.
❌ Je vais en Canada.
Incorrect — *Canada* is masculine, so *au Canada*.
✅ Je vais au Canada.
I'm going to Canada.
Most countries ending in -e are feminine (en France, en Italie); most others are masculine (au Canada, au Japon, au Brésil). The exceptions to "-e is feminine" are worth memorizing: le Mexique, le Cambodge, le Mozambique, le Zimbabwe, le Belize.
❌ On partons demain.
Incorrect — *on* takes third-person singular conjugation, never *nous* form.
✅ On part demain.
We're leaving tomorrow.
Even though on often means "we", the verb stays singular: on part, on mange, on a fini, on est arrivé. Watching the verb agreement is the most reliable way to spot the on/nous distinction.
❌ Combien temps tu pars ?
Incorrect — *combien* requires *de* before a noun.
✅ Combien de temps tu pars ?
How long are you leaving for?
Combien de + noun is the question form for "how much / how many". The bare de is mandatory.
❌ Je vais en Italie pour deux semaines.
Acceptable but unnatural — French prefers no preposition for vacation duration.
✅ Je vais en Italie deux semaines.
I'm going to Italy for two weeks.
French often expresses a planned duration as a bare time expression, no preposition. Pour deux semaines is not wrong, but native speakers more often say simply On part deux semaines, Je reste trois jours, Il est resté un mois.
❌ Avec qui tu pars avec ?
Incorrect — French does not strand prepositions, and you cannot duplicate them.
✅ Avec qui tu pars ?
Who are you going with?
The preposition lives at the front, attached to the question word, exactly once.
Key takeaways
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Start learning French→Related Topics
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