How to use 'chez' in French

Chez is a preposition which means ‘at’. It has a few different uses in French, and it’s worth learning these to avoid confusion and develop your understanding of how to talk about locations in French.

We use the preposition chez when talking about:

Somebody’s home

J’organise une fête chez moi le week-end prochain. - I’m throwing a party at my house next weekend.

On s’arrêtera chez Tom sur le chemin du retour. - We’ll stop at Tom’s place on the way home.

Groups or organisations

Chez les Espagnols, il est courant de dîner tard. - Among the Spanish, it’s common to have dinner late.

Chez Amnesty International, les décisions sont prises collectivement. - At Amnesty International, decisions are made collectively.

Shops or businesses named after a person

Vous devez aller chez le médecin. - You need to go to the doctor’s.

J’ai rencontré Simone chez le coiffeur. - I met Simone at the hairdresser’s.

Concerning an individual

On trouve chez Truffaut une authenticité qu’on ne retrouve pas chez les autres cinéastes. - There’s an authenticity to Truffaut that you don’t find in other filmmakers.

Ce que j’admire chez lui, c’est son honnêteté. - I admire his honesty.

Both chez and à mean ‘at’, but we use them in different contexts.

We use chez when a person or people are involved in the location being referred to. À, on the other hand, is impersonal, and is used when referring to a location that doesn’t involve anyone directly.

For instance, if you wanted to say 'at the dentist's', you would say chez le dentiste. If, on the other hand, you wanted to say 'at the dental clinic', you would say à la clinique dentaire.

You may be aware that many restaurants in France (and French restaurants around the world) are called chez + [name], for example chez Robert or chez Pierre. This usually refers to the name of the owner (in English it might be called 'Robert's' or 'Pierre's.')

• c’est nul de chez nul - it’s utterly terrible*
• riche de chez riche - very rich indeed*
• bizarre de chez bizarre - weird as can be*
• mon chez-moi - my home
• bien de chez nous - stereotypically French
• noir comme chez le diable - pitch black*

*colloquial