dans vs. en

Question

Why can't I write "Ton père est dans la prison.?I think "dans la" & "en" both work in this example. My reasoning is that prison is a physical place.

Accepted Answer

Hi Ignatius, 
This question has been asked before and here is the answer -
https://french.kwiziq.com/questions/view/en-vs-dans-1
Bonne Continuation !

Answer

You haven’t given the example (it does help), but it is unlikely both answers will fit.

If the English is ‘ is in the prison’ you would use ‘(être) dans la prison’ to translate to French, as in both languages the respective phrases emphasise/mean being inside the prison, as a physical structure.

However if the English is ‘is in prison’ the French translation will be ‘être en prison’ with both mean being incarcerated/imprisoned, an abstract ‘place’ rather than a specific location.