à l'école
à l'école is the French way to say at school.
This phrase is used to describe being at one's school or at the school building/institution in general.
Meaning: at one's school (prep_phrase)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of the preposition à (at/to), the definite article l’ (the) and the noun école (school).
Which one should you use?
While à l'école refers to being at the school building or institution generally, en classe specifically means being inside a classroom or in the middle of a lesson.
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often forget the definite article and try to say à école, but French requires the article l’ before the noun.
Did you know?
- The word école is a distant relative of the English word 'scholar', both tracing back to the Greek word skholé, which originally meant 'leisure'.
- In France, the word école does not always imply a primary school. It can actually refer to prestigious, highly specialized higher education institutions known as Grandes Écoles.
- While English speakers use 'at school' to mean 'enrolled in studies', a French person would more likely use the verb étudier or the phrase être scolarisé to express the status of being a student.
Examples in context
- Tom est à l'école.Tom is at school.Tatoeba #5081954 by Sisyphe, translation #2273026 by CK
- À demain, à l'école.See you tomorrow at school.Tatoeba #15717 by nimfeo, translation #323402 by CK
- On se voit à l'école.I'll see you at school.Tatoeba #11928454 by lbdx, translation #6271476 by CK
- Je suis à l'école.I am at school.
- Elle étudie au collège.She studies at school.
- Il est au lycée.He is at school.
- On se retrouve à l'école.Let's meet up at school.
- Je vais au collège demain.I'm going to school tomorrow.
- On se voit au lycée ce soir.See you at school tonight.
- Mon frère étudie au lycée Louis XIV.My brother studies at Louis XIV High School.
- Nous avons rendez-vous à l'école demain matin.We have a meeting at school tomorrow morning.
- Les enfants jouent au collège près de chez moi.The children play at the middle school near my house.
- 216 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Gabriel and Manon are talking on the phone.
- GabrielTu es où, Manon ?Where are you, Manon?
- ManonJe suis encore à l'école.I am still at school.
- GabrielTu finis à quelle heure ?What time do you finish?
- ManonJe quitte l'école à seize heures.I leave school at four o'clock.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “at school” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
