Learn French: Où est-ce que tu habites, à Paris ou à Londres ? - Where do you live, in Paris or in London?

Où est-ce que tu habites, à Paris ou à Londres ?

Where do you live, in Paris or in London?

Breakdown of Où est-ce que tu habites, à Paris ou à Londres ?

you (informal singular)

at / to / in (general locations) / about (what one thinks about / reacts to)

habiter

to live

Questions & Answers about Où est-ce que tu habites, à Paris ou à Londres ?

Why do we use à to mean "in" here, instead of en or dans?

In French, the preposition à is specifically used for cities to mean "in", "at", or "to". You will use en, au, or aux for countries, but for cities like Paris, it is always à Paris.

Do I really need to say à twice? Could I just say à Paris ou Londres?

Yes, you must repeat it! In French, short prepositions like à, de, and en generally have to be repeated before every single noun. In English, we often say "in Paris or London," but in French, it must be à Paris ou à Londres.

What does est-ce que mean, and why is it here?

est-ce que literally means "is it that", and it acts like a tag to turn a sentence into a question. When you use a question word like Où (Where), you can easily form the question by putting est-ce que right after it, followed by the normal subject and verb (tu habites).

Why is London spelled Londres?

Many major, historical European cities have their own specific French names. Just like the French word for "Rome" is Rome instead of "Roma", "London" becomes Londres in French.