Learn French: Il s'intéresse au shampoing, à la coloration et à la laque. - He is interested in the shampoo, the coloring, and the hairspray.

Il s'intéresse au shampoing, à la coloration et à la laque.

He is interested in the shampoo, the coloring, and the hairspray.

Breakdown of Il s'intéresse au shampoing, à la coloration et à la laque.

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

Questions & Answers about Il s'intéresse au shampoing, à la coloration et à la laque.

Why do we have to repeat the preposition à before every item in this list?

In French, the prepositions à, de, and en must be repeated before every single noun in a list. You cannot just use it once at the beginning like in English ("in the shampoo, coloring, and hairspray"). You must explicitly state it for every item.

Does using au for the first item still count as repeating à?

Yes! The verb s'intéresser requires the preposition à. Because shampoing is masculine, à + le contracts into au. The other two nouns are feminine, so they use à la. Even though the preposition is hidden inside the contraction au, it perfectly fulfills the repetition rule.

Why is "interested in" translated with à instead of dans?

The reflexive verb s'intéresser is always followed by the preposition à to mean "to be interested in." You shouldn't translate the English preposition "in" directly, as dans is generally reserved for being physically inside something.

Why is shampoing spelled without the double "o" from the English word?

You will actually see both shampooing (the original borrowing) and shampoing. The spelling shampoing was officially recommended in the 1990 French spelling reforms to better match how the word is pronounced in French. Both forms are widely used and completely acceptable.