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Ils habitent dans le sud.

Ils habitent dans le sud.
They live in the south.
From Lesson 34:Prepositions for cities and countries (à, en, au, aux)·French

Breakdown of Ils habitent dans le sud.

habiter
to live
le sud
the south

Questions & Answers about Ils habitent dans le sud.

Why do we use dans here instead of en or au like we do for countries?
This lesson teaches en, au, and aux for countries, but for general regions and compass directions like le sud (the south), French uses dans followed by the article. So you use dans le to mean in the.
Why is there a le before sud?
In French, compass directions like sud, nord, est, and ouest are nouns. When you talk about living in a direction as a region, you must include the definite article le.
How do you pronounce habitent? Do I say the ending?
No, the -ent ending on plural verbs is completely silent. You pronounce habitent exactly the same as the singular form habite.
Should I connect the words Ils and habitent when speaking?
Yes, this is a great place for a liaison! Because Ils ends in an S and habitent starts with a silent H (which acts like a vowel), you connect them with a Z sound: Il-Z-ah-beet.

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