Difference between "dans" and "en" in French?

Question

Ok, I want to use "en" to say in something. Why is this wrong? Why does my teacher insist on using "dans"? Please help.

Update:

uhhh, how do I give out a "best answer"

Answer 1

Favorite Answer

The prepositions en and dans can both be used to express time and location in French, but their uses are completely different.

En expresses the length of time an action takes. Note that this means the verb is usually in the present or past.

Examples:

Je peux faire le lit en 5 minutes. I can make the bed in 5 minutes.

Il a lu le livre en une heure. He read the book in an hour.

J'ai appris à danser en un an. I learned how to dance in a year.

En is used to express the month, season,* or year in which an action takes place (calendar vocabulary):

Examples:

Nous voyageons en avril. We travel in April.

Il arrivera en hiver. He will arrive in the winter.

*Except au printemps

En also means to or in with some states, provinces, and countries:

Examples:

J'habite en Californie I live in California

Je vais en France I'm going to France

Dans indicates the amount of time before which an action will occur in the future. Note that this means the verb is usually in the present or future.

Examples:

Nous partons dans dix minutes. We're leaving in 10 minutes.

Il reviendra dans une heure. He'll be back in an hour.

Elle va commencer dans une semaine. She's going to start in a week.

Dans refers to something that occurs within a decade:

Example:

Dans les années soixantes... In the sixties...

Dans also means to or in with some states and provinces:

Examples:

J'habite dans le Maine I live in Maine

Je vais dans l'Ontario I'm going to Ontario

Source(s): http://french.about.com/library/prepositions/bl_pr...

Answer 2

En expresses the length of time an action takes. Note that this means the verb is usually in the present or past.

whereas

Dans indicates the amount of time before which an action will occur in the future. Note that this means the verb is usually in the present or future.

En is used to express the month, season, or year in which an action takes place (calendar vocabulary)

whereas

Dans refers to something that occurs within a decade

En and Dans can both be used in states and provinces but only en can be used for countries.

Source(s): http://french.about.com/

Answer 3

You just have to know your French - a bit like knowing masculine and feminine nouns. But on the whole if you can replace the in with inside or within then it is "dans" and if you can t then it s "en". So I m travelling in April - you wouldn t say "inside April" so it s Je voyage en Avril. I live in France - again not inside France - Je vis en France. I learned to dance in a year, you could say I learned to dance within a year - so J ai appris a danser dans un an. Simple things like "the cat is in the bag", le chat est dans le sac.

Answer 4

in French, dans is feminine for in, and en is masculine for in.

For example: since une dame (french word for lady) is feminine,

if you are trying to say "in the lady" ( i guess this is kind of a bad example) you would say "dans la dame"

And to give out a best answer you just have to wait about 4 hours and eventually next to each answer a little button that says "choose as best answer" will appear and you just click on it

Source(s): I speak French

Answer 5

these answere's are too complicated, its simple

DANS is inside

EX:he is inside the plane

EN: is in

EX:he will be ready in 5 minutes,because

here we can not use inside,

he will be ready inside 5 minutes,which is a wrong sentence

Answer 6

This Site Might Help You.

RE:

Difference between "dans" and "en" in French?

Ok, I want to use "en" to say in something. Why is this wrong? Why does my teacher insist on using "dans"? Please help.

Source(s): difference quot dans quot quot en quot french: https://biturl.im/X9eid

Answer 7

The three different ways of saying 'my' are 'mon', 'ma' and 'mes'. -Mon is used when talking about a masculine object -Ma is used when talking about a feminine object -Mes is used when talking about more than one object (plural) So, as 'livre' is a masculine word, the correct grammar for the sentence would be 'C'est mon livre'. Hope this helps :)

Answer 8

dans means 'in' im sure of that but im not sure maybe en means two different things

im clearly not going to be much help here sry lol