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Lesson Transcript

Hi everybody! Candice here. Welcome to Ask a Teacher, where I'll answer your most common French questions.
The question for this lesson is What are the different uses of chez?
This is a good example of a word that has multiple meanings. You’ve probably already learned that chez plus a personal pronoun means “home.” For example, Je rentre chez moi means “I’m going back home.” But it can also mean “at an office.” For example, J’ai trouvé un emploi chez Disney means “I found a job at Disney.” And J’ai un rendez-vous chez le médecin means “I have a meeting at the doctor’s office.”
Finally, chez can be translated as “among” or “pertaining to.” For example, Chez les Français, c’est normal de manger du cheval means “Among French people, it’s normal to eat horsemeat.” And Chez les Américains, les socialistes sont assez rare means “Among Americans, socialists are rather rare.” And Chez lui, c’est bizarre means “That’s strange for him.”
So to recap, chez can be a preposition to refer to someone’s house or office. But it can also be a more figurative preposition, meaning “for them, amongst these people, etc.” It has a fairly broad meaning and can be used in lots of situations. For example, if you want to talk about American culture or politics, for example, you can use the same phrase - chez les Américains.
As long as the subject is understood, chez works just fine. Try to incorporate it into your spoken French. You will sound much more fluent, even when you don’t know a word.
Pretty useful, right?
If you have any more questions, please leave a comment below!
A bientôt, see you soon!

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