Get the app
French frequency list

No. 85 in French

au

"Au" is the contraction of "à" (to, at) and "le" (the) in French, meaning "to the" or "at the."

In a sentence

  • Je vais au parc.

    I am going to the park.

    In this sentence, 'au' is a contraction of 'à le', which means 'to the'. It is used because 'parc' is a masculine singular noun and requires the preposition 'à' to indicate movement towards it.

  • Il travaille au bureau.

    He works at the office.

    Here, 'au' is used as a contraction of 'à le', indicating location. The noun 'bureau' is masculine singular, which determines the use of 'au'.

  • Au printemps, les fleurs fleurissent.

    In spring, the flowers bloom.

    In this context, 'au' is a contraction of 'à le' and is used to express 'in the' with a masculine singular noun representing a season.

Hear it in real podcasts

The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “au” in actual French podcasts.

Find “au” in podcasts

Learn it from shows you like

LangTurbo plays French podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there.

Get the app

French books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).