Learn French: Après avoir habité en Bretagne, elle veut vivre en Sicile. - After having lived in Brittany, she wants to live in Sicily.

Après avoir habité en Bretagne, elle veut vivre en Sicile.

After having lived in Brittany, she wants to live in Sicily.

Breakdown of Après avoir habité en Bretagne, elle veut vivre en Sicile.

Questions & Answers about Après avoir habité en Bretagne, elle veut vivre en Sicile.

Why do we use en before Bretagne?

Bretagne (Brittany) is a French region. In French, regions and provinces that end in -e are feminine. Just like with feminine countries, we use the preposition en to express "in" or "to" a feminine region.

Why is it en Sicile? I thought islands used à instead of en.

The rules for islands have some exceptions! While many standalone islands use à (like à Madagascar or à Cuba), large European islands like Sicily, Corsica (Corse), and Sardinia (Sardaigne) act like feminine regions. Because Sicile ends in -e, it is feminine, so we use en.

Why does the sentence use après avoir habité instead of après habitant?

In English, we often say "After living", using an -ing verb. However, in French, the preposition après must always be followed by the past infinitive. This is formed with the infinitive of the helping verb (avoir or être) plus the past participle (habité). You cannot use the present participle (habitant) after après.

What is the difference between habiter and vivre in this sentence?