All US state names in French and how to learn them easily

All US state names in French and how to learn them easily

Last week, one of my students wrote “La Nevade” instead of “Le Nevada” in her homework. When I corrected it, I fell down a rabbit hole.

Countries and states that end with -a often end with -e in French, so why was this a mistake?
How many rules affect the names of US states in French?

I went online to find if someone had figured it out.

I only found chaos.
As often, French teachers only shared lists with no logic. Are learners just supposed to make sense of it?

So, I did it.
I uncovered all the rules for naming US states in French, including their genders and how to use them in a sentence.

Then I put them all in an actionable, easy to learn, under 10-minute video.

If you like this video, click here to subscribe to my YouTube channel. I make new videos regularly about what it takes to become a French speaker.

Feminine States

Their names have been translated, probably because they are among the oldest, and they are all on the coasts.  If they end in a the spelling is changed to e. When a state is feminine we use the article La and the preposition En.

Pennsylvania -  Pennsylvanie

California - Californie

Virginia - Virginie

West Virginia - Virginie Occidentale

North or South Carolina - Caroline Nord or Sud

Georgia  - Géorgie

Florida - Floride

Louisiana - Louisiane

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Masculine States

You will have to pronounce the masculine states' names the French way. Listen to the video so you can practice!

The majority are masculine states. Their names haven't been translated except for New Mexico. I believe the names haven’t been translated because the French haven’t heard much about them since they are in the center of the country and are less populated.  We use the article Le for masculine states. If the state starts with a consonant we use the preposition Au or Dans le:

Nevada - Nevada

Montana - Montana

Wyoming - Wyoming

Colorado - Colorado

New Mexico - Nouveau-Mexique

North or South Dakota - Dakota Nord or Sud

Nebraska - Nebraska

Kansas - Kansas

Texas - Texas

Minnesota - Minnesota

Wisconsin - Wisconsin

Missouri - Missouri

Michigan - Michigan

Kentucky - Kentucky

Tennessee - Tennessee

Mississippi - Mississippi

Maine - Maine

New Hampshire - New Hampshire

Vermont - Vermont

Massachusetts - Massachusetts

Connecticut - Connecticut

New Jersey - New Jersey

Delaware - Delaware

Maryland - Maryland

If it starts with a vowel, we use the prepositions En or Dans l’:

Oregon - Oregon

Idaho - Idaho

Utah - Utah

Arizona - Arizona

Iowa - Iowa

Oklahoma - Oklahoma

Illinois - Illinois

Arkansas - Arkansas

Indiana - Indiana

Ohio - Ohio

Alabama - Alabama

A map of the US featuring five colors
Blue - masculine, Red - feminine, Green - states that share names with cities, Yellow - islands

Other states:

-        To make it clear that you mean New York State, or Washington State and not the cities of the same name, we use L’Etat de New York and L’Etat de Washington, and use the preposition Dans. L’etat is masculine so these two states are masculine.

-        For islands, including Rhode Island (which isn’t an island) we use the preposition à as if it were a city.  They are feminine, so we use the article La.  The exception is Puerto Rico (which is not a state) because Porto is masculine in Spanish.

Your next steps

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About the Author

A portrait of Angel Pretot, sitting in nature with his laptop, looking at the camera and using a pen and notebook with his right hand.

Angel Pretot is a French learning coach. He works online with English speakers from all over the world, helping them learn French fast and become fluent.
You can work with him, in his one-on-one program the French Transformation, take some of his self-study courses, or join a global community of French learners in his group program the French Fluency Accelerator.