Jusque and Jusqu'à

Question

Is there any logic why jusque is sometimes followed by à and sometimes not? Like here it's jusque-là but otherwise you've got something like jusqu'à maintenant...?

Accepted Answer

Hi Tom,
Just to add to the excellent answers and examples already given. When jusque is followed by a preposition that starts with a consonant

jusque dans 
jusque sur 
jusque chez 
jusque vers

etc.  
there no elision and it is a mistake often made by French-speaking people to add the à, hence the article quoted by Alan.
Here a few examples of when 'jusque' would be correct -

Il connaît cette histoire jusque dans les moindres détails = He knows that story down to the smallest details
L'eau est montée jusque dans la chambre = The water rose right up to the bedroom
Vous allez jusque vers la mairie = Go right up towards the town hall

Hope this helps!

Answer

Jusque can be followed by many prepositions. The preposition is determined by what exactly you want to specify. In almost all cases jusque needs some kind of limit (temporal or spatial) to specify to extent up to which something extends.
La forêt s'étend jusqu'ici. -- The forest extends up to here.Jusqu'où êtes-vous prêt à investir? -- Up to where (what amount/limit) are you prepared to invest?Jusqu'alors, il était calme. -- Until then, it was calm.Jusque-là. -- Up to that point.Jusqu'à ce que la mort nous sépare. -- Until death du us part.

Answer

But, as Tom asks in effect, if "jusque-là" why not "jusque maintenant"? A partial explanation is that "jusque" rather than "jusqu'à" is used when the following word is a preposition or an adverb. However it seems to be true only for certain adverbs such as "ici" or "là", and not for "maintenant".

Or is "jusque maintenant" equally correct (at least in Belgium)?

https://www.lesoir.be/art/1370863/article/debats/chroniques/vous-avez-ces-mots/2016-11-18/jusque-lundi-jusqu-lundi

Answer

To build on what Alan said, I can't vouch for the veracity of this source, but I finally after much searching found something that actually broke down the actual rules for jusque vs jusqu'à. This answers both Tom and Alan's questions:• “Jusque” is normally accompanied by the preposition “à” . For
example: jusqu'à la fin, jusqu'au (contraction de "à" + "le")
bout de la rue, jusqu'à hier, jusqu'à demain, ...• “Jusque” is constructed without “à” when it is followed by one
of the adverbs “alors, ici, là, où” or
another preposition. For example: jusque-là (with hyphen [trait
d'union]), jusqu'ici, jusqu'alors, jusqu'où, jusqu'en, jusque chez, jusque sur,
jusque dans, jusque vers, ...• “Jusque” is
constructed without “à” with the
adverbs “assez, aussi, bien, fort, si, très”, modifying an adverb of time or
place. For example: jusqu'assez avant dans la nuit,
jusque fort haut sur cette pente, jusque très avant dans le désert, ...The final “e” of “jusque” is always elided before a vowel ,
that is to say we erase it in favor of an apostrophe and we paste the following
word. As in “jusqu'à" or "jusqu'ici.”This is adapted from: https://www.orthographiq.com/blog/jusque-ou-jusqua-orthographe where you can find even further help on the matter.