In an A1 focus test I wrote"ton père est DANS la prison" because a prison is a physical enclosure. It was marked as incorrect. could you please explain why? Thanks.
en vs dans
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Lynne K.Kwiziq community member
en vs dans
This question relates to:French lesson "En vs Dans with locations (French Prepositions of Location)"
Asked 3 years ago
This follows basically the same distinction as the examples using “classe” in the lesson.
Prison is treated as an abstract noun when referred to generally. We have a similar distinction in English - we wouldn’t use an article in the abstract situation.
Le voleur est en prison/the thief is in prison (imprisoned or incarcerated)- is the example in the lesson.
If referring to a specific physical place eg Il est dans la prison où l'émeute a eu lieu/ He is in the prison where the riot occurred.
We would use an article in this context in English.
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