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Nous allons voyager dans le Languedoc après avoir visité le Périgord.

Nous allons voyager dans le Languedoc après avoir visité le Périgord.
We are going to travel in the Languedoc after having visited the Perigord.
From Lesson 425:Prepositions for islands and regions (en, à, dans le)·French

Questions & Answers about Nous allons voyager dans le Languedoc après avoir visité le Périgord.

Why do we use dans le for Languedoc instead of en?
Languedoc is a historical French province and a masculine region starting with a consonant. For masculine provinces and regions starting with a consonant, French typically uses dans le (like dans le Périgord or dans le Languedoc) rather than en, which is used for feminine regions like en Bretagne.
If we say dans le Languedoc, why isn't there a preposition before le Périgord?
It depends on the verb! Voyager (to travel) needs a preposition to show where you are traveling (dans le Languedoc). The verb visiter (to visit a place), however, takes a direct object. You directly visit a place (visiter le Périgord) without a preposition like 'in' or 'to'.
Why is it après avoir visité instead of après visitant?
In French, the preposition après must be followed by the past infinitive (the infinitive of avoir or être plus a past participle) when the same subject does both actions. It literally translates to 'after having visited.' You cannot use the present participle (visitant) after après.
How can I tell if historical regions like Languedoc or Périgord are masculine or feminine?
Just like with countries, regions ending in the letter -e are generally feminine (such as la Provence or la Bretagne) and take the preposition en. Regions ending in other letters, like le Languedoc and le Périgord, are masculine and therefore take dans le.

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