a vs à

Summary

a (no accent) is the verb avoir in the third person (il a = he has); à (grave accent) is a preposition meaning to, at or in; since they are homophones, test by replacing the word with avait — if it still works it is the verb a, otherwise it is the preposition à.

Explanation

These two little words sound exactly the same but belong to completely different word classes. A without an accent is a verb: it is the third-person singular present of avoir ("to have"), as in il a faim, elle a vingt ans, on a le temps. À with a grave accent is a preposition that links words and marks place, direction, time, possession or manner: je vais à Paris, à midi, une tasse à thé, c'est à moi.

Because the accent is the only visible difference, learners (and native writers) constantly mix them up. The fix is a single, reliable substitution test: try replacing the word with avait, the imperfect of avoir. If the sentence still makes sense, the word is the verb and is written a with no accent; if it becomes nonsense, you need the preposition à.

Watch the test in action. In il a une voiture you can say il avait une voiture ("he had a car"), so it is the verb: write a. In il va à Paris you cannot say "il va avait Paris," so it is the preposition: write à. The same logic sorts elle a froid (avait froid → verb a) from elle pense à toi (no avait → preposition à).

It helps to remember the common jobs of each. The verb a appears with a subject (il, elle, on, a name) and usually an object or an idiomatic noun: a faim, a raison, a vingt ans, a une idée. The preposition à appears before a place, a time, an indirect object or an infinitive of purpose: à la maison, à huit heures, parler à un ami, une machine à laver.

Two refinements worth noting. First, à very often fuses with the definite article: à + le = au, à + les = aux (je vais au cinéma, aux États-Unis); the avait test still works because au/aux clearly cannot be the verb. Second, the capitalised form at the start of a sentence keeps the accent — À demain ! — so do not drop it just because it is a capital letter.

The decision rule in one line: mentally swap in avait. Works → write a (verb avoir); fails → write à (preposition). Master this single test and the a/à confusion essentially disappears.

Examples

Elle a deux chats. — She has two cats. (Verb avoir: elle avait deux chats works, so write a with no accent.)

Nous allons à la plage. — We are going to the beach. (Preposition: avait does not fit, so write à.)

Il a une réunion à quatorze heures. — He has a meeting at two o'clock. (Both forms in one sentence: a (= avait, verb) then à (time, preposition).)

Ce livre est à moi. — This book is mine. (Preposition à for possession; avait makes no sense here.)

À demain, elle a commencé son nouveau travail. — See you tomorrow; she has started her new job. (À keeps its accent even capitalised at the start; a (= avait) is the verb.)

Common mistakes

Related rules

• être vs avoir
• Prepositions à and de
• Article contractions (au / aux / du / des)