Prepositions of place are the first thing a beginner needs and the last thing anyone thinks to revise. They are also tested at DELF A1, where the exam expects you to say where something is without hesitating.
The poster illustrates all nine with the same cat in nine positions, which is deliberate: the fastest way to make a preposition stick is to attach it to one image you can picture instantly. The full content is in the table below.
The 9 French prepositions of place
| French | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| sur | on | Le chat est sur le coussin. |
| sous | under | Le chat est sous la table. |
| dans | in | Le chat est dans la boîte. |
| devant | in front of | Le chat est devant la porte. |
| derrière | behind | Le chat est derrière la plante. |
| entre | between | Le chat est entre les livres. |
| à côté de | next to | Le chat est à côté de la tasse. |
| au-dessus de | above | Le chat saute au-dessus des chaises. |
| en dessous de | below | Le chat est en dessous de la lampe. |
The three traps
À côté de, au-dessus de and en dessous de all end in de, and that de contracts: à côté du canapé, au-dessus des chaises, à côté de la tasse. Say "à côté de le canapé" and you have made the single most common beginner mistake in the whole list.
Sous and en dessous de both translate as under, but they are not interchangeable. Sous implies contact or direct cover (le chat est sous la table), while en dessous de is purely about position on a vertical axis (le chat est en dessous de la lampe). When in doubt at A1 level, sous is the safer choice.
Dans means physically inside something with walls or edges. English says "in the picture" or "in the street", French says sur la photo and dans la rue. Do not translate in mechanically.
How to learn them in a week
Pick one object you can see right now and describe its position out loud with all nine prepositions, moving it if you have to. Nine sentences a day for a week and they are permanent.
Then push into the past: mon chat est sur le canapé maintenant, avant il était sous la table. Combining a preposition with a tense is what the DELF actually asks for.