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Dans, sur and sous: explore a room in French

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Find eight things in a French living room, practise inside, on and under, and answer location questions with dans, sur and sous.

In short

Use dans for “inside”, sur for “on a surface” and sous for “under”: Le livre est dans le sac, sur la table or sous la chaise. Keep the article after the preposition: dans le sac, sur la table, sous les chaises.

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A quiet room has a blank-covered book on a table, a bag beneath a chair and a visible key inside an open plain box.
The objects make dans, sur and sous easy to picture. Illustration: Atelier
Three positions to look for
PositionFrenchEnglish
insidedans la boîtein the box
on a surfacesur la tableon the table
underneathsous la chaiseunder the chair

Explore the living room, then play Find it

A cosy living room viewed from slightly above. A wooden table holds a red book and a small open blue box containing a brass key. A white mug stands on a low cup

How do you ask where something is in French?

Où est la clé ?
  1. Lina

    Où est la clé ?

    Where is the key?

  2. You

    Elle est dans la boîte.

    It’s in the box.

  3. Lina

    Et les livres ?

    And the books?

  4. You

    Il y a un livre sur la table.

    There is one book on the table.

For one known object, use est: Le sac est sous la chaise. For several, use sont: Les sacs sont sous la chaise. The preposition stays the same. Il y a un sac sous la chaise introduces a bag; Le sac est sous la chaise tells you where the bag is.

A possessive can replace the article: dans mon sac, sur ta table, sous notre canapé. Choose one determiner, so “in my bag” is dans mon sac. With a room, dans also means within that space: La table est dans le salon.

Question 1No account needed
The key is inside the blue box. Complete the sentence.La clé est ___ la boîte.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

dans. The key is inside the box, so use dans.

Question 2No account needed
The green bag is underneath the chair.Le sac est ___ la chaise.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

sous. Sous describes the stated position beneath the chair.

Question 3No account needed
Two books are resting on a table.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Les livres sont sur la table.. Use plural sont and sur for books resting on the surface.

Question 4No account needed
Choose “in my bag”.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

dans mon sac. Sac is masculine; mon replaces the article directly.

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