In and To

Question

I admit to being totally confused about the rules for In/To/From for Cities/ Regions/States/Countries/Continents. I am creating an Excel spreadsheet for myself to clarify the rules and I am going through the several Kwiziq lessons which explain the rules. I am confused because the lessons use In and To interchangeably. Are In and To always the same word in French for each combination of gender, first letter (vowel or consonant) and number (singular or plural)?

Answer

Bonjour Paul,
There are two separate lessons here:
1)  to or from a city --> here is the lesson for this:           https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/my-languages/french/view/3160
2) to or from a Region, State, Country or Continent --> here is the less for this:  https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/my-languages/french/view/4713
I too have issues with the various regions, states, etc. so it will be best to leave any other response to the Kwiziq team.

Bonne chance.

Answer

I found the lessons on kwiziq regarding this topic quite exhaustive. Best to review and practice them. Don't overthink (always a bad idea with French in particular :) ).
There is a peculiarity with some prepositions which I have resigned to just learning rather than trying to understand. "Je vais dans ma chambre" means "I am going to my room" and implies a direction. "Je vais dans la forêt", however, means I am going in the forest and does NOT imply a direction. If you wanted to say "I am going to the forest" you would use "Je vais à la forêt".

To confuse matters even more, I believe that "Je marche dans ma chambre" would connote that you were walking around in your room (rather than going to your room).

-- Chris (not a native speaker)

Answer

Bonjour à nouveau Chris,
J'en ai profité bien de votre réponse, merci.