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French keeps the article with school, church and hospital

In English you go to school, go to church and go to bed with no article at all. French does not drop the article here. You say aller à l'école, aller à l'église, aller au lit, and in the same way être à l'hôpital, à l'université, au travail and à la maison.

English speakers trip over this because the English phrases feel fixed and natural, so they translate them word for word. The result is aller à école or il est à hôpital, which sounds wrong to French ears. The fix is simple: keep the article, and let it merge with à when it has to.

Word list
écolefA1 school aller à l'école = go to school églisefA1 church aller à l'église = go to church hôpitalmA1 hospital à l'hôpital = in/to hospital (mute h) litmA1 bed aller au lit = go to bed (au = à + le) travailmA1 work aller au travail = go to work universitéfA1 university à l'université = at university à la maisonA2 at home à la maison = at home (also chez moi) aller au litA2 to go to bed aller au lit = go to bed (au = à + le) maisonfA2 home rentrer à la maison = go home (not à maison) mosquéefA2 mosque aller à la mosquée = go to mosque chapellefB1 chapel aller à la chapelle = go to chapel école maternellefB1 nursery school à l'école maternelle = at nursery school école primairefB1 elementary school à l'école primaire = at primary school école secondairefB1 secondary school à l'école secondaire = at high school (Quebec, Belgium) jardin d'enfantsmB1 nursery school au jardin d'enfants = at kindergarten lycéemB1 secondary school au lycée = at high school (masculine) maternellefB1 nursery school à la maternelle = at nursery school, in kindergarten templemB1 church aller au temple = go to temple (usually a Protestant church in France) école élémentairefB2 elementary school à l'école élémentaire = at primary school synagoguefB2 synagogue aller à la synagogue = go to synagogue tribunalmB2 courthouse aller au tribunal = go to court
How it works

With places that stand for an activity, such as learning, praying, working, sleeping or being treated, English often leaves out the. French always keeps the definite article. It combines with à like this:

  • à + le becomes au: au travail, au lit, au lycée
  • à + la stays à la: à la maison, à la mosquée
  • à + l' before a vowel or mute h: à l'école, à l'église, à l'hôpital, à l'université

The same à covers both going to and being at, so you do not need to choose between two prepositions.

English itself varies here. British speakers say in hospital and at university, while American speakers usually say in the hospital and in college. French does not care about this difference: it is à l'hôpital and à l'université for everyone.

Les enfants vont à l'école à huit heures.
(The children go to school at eight.)
Il est à l'hôpital depuis lundi.
(He has been in hospital since Monday.)
The words
Studying

École and université start with a vowel, so they take à l'. The more specific school words follow the same rule: école maternelle and école primaire keep à l', while lycée is masculine and takes au.

Ma sœur est à l'université à Lyon.
(My sister is at university in Lyon.)
Mon fils va à l'école maternelle depuis septembre.
(My son has been going to nursery school since September.)
Elle apprend l'anglais à l'école primaire.
(She is learning English at primary school.)
Tu vas au lycée en bus ?
(Do you go to secondary school by bus?)
Worship

Église, temple, mosquée and synagogue all keep their article. Note that in France temple usually means a Protestant church.

Ma grand-mère va à l'église tous les dimanches.
(My grandmother goes to church every Sunday.)
Le vendredi, il va à la mosquée avec son père.
(On Fridays he goes to mosque with his father.)
Ils vont à la synagogue le samedi matin.
(They go to synagogue on Saturday mornings.)
Nos voisins protestants vont au temple le dimanche.
(Our Protestant neighbours go to church on Sundays.)
Daily life

Travail, à la maison and aller au lit follow the same logic as the others: the English phrase has no article, but the French one does.

Je vais au travail à vélo.
(I go to work by bike.)
Ce soir, je reste à la maison.
(Tonight I'm staying at home.)
Les enfants, il est tard, on va au lit !
(Kids, it's late, off to bed!)
Watch out

The most common mistake is dropping the article: aller à école or être à hôpital. Also remember to contract. It is au travail and au lit, never à le travail.

A few French expressions work the other way and use en with no article. The most important is prison: aller en prison means to be sent to prison as a punishment. You only say à la prison when you mean the building itself, for example when visiting someone there. Other common examples are en classe (in class, in lessons) and en ville (in town). Learn these as fixed exceptions.

Il a passé deux ans en prison.
(He spent two years in prison.)

Finally, for home, French often prefers chez moi, chez toi and so on. À la maison is still very common, especially when talking about family life.

Summary

When English says go to school, go to church, go to work or go to bed with no article, French keeps the article and combines it with à: à l'école, à l'église, au travail, au lit, à la maison. Watch out for the few fixed en phrases, above all en prison, en classe and en ville.