We know that countries, regions, states or counties have genders in French. See Continents/countries/counties/regions/states are masculine, feminine or plural in French (Gender).
Using "venir de/du/d'/des" with countries in French
Now look at these examples:
Note that when saying the country, region or state someone comes from in French, you use the verb venir followed by:
- de (or d' in front of a vowel or mute h) when the country/region/state is feminine
- du (or d' in front of a vowel or mute h) when the country/region/state is masculine
- des when the country/region/state is plural
ATTENTION: note the cases of English counties ending in -shire which are masculine!
Case of Québec = province vs city
When you refer to the province of Le Québec, here it behaves like a country:
whereas the city of Québec, capital of the province of Québec, is like any other city:
See also the related lessons: Je viens de + [ville] = I'm from + [city] in French and En/Dans = in/to + regions/states/counties (French Prepositions)
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Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Elle vient des États-Unis.Where does she come from?
She comes from the United States.
- Nous venons du Texas.Where do you come from?
- We come from Texas.
