It is only natural when you meet someone new to inquire about that person’s origins or to speak about your own.

In order to speak correctly about coming from, living in, or traveling to a country, city, state, or province, you need to learn these prepositions:

PREPOSITION / MEANING

en / in
a / to
de / from

Vivo en Nueva York. / I live in New York.
Soy de California. / I’m from California.
Voy a San Juan. / I’m going to San Juan.

To formally ask a person where he or she is from, say: ¿De dónde es Ud.? (Where are you from?) To be informal, ask: ¿De dónde eres? (Where are
you from?)

In Spanish most countries are not preceded by a definite article (el, la, los, or las), though a few are. Common everyday usage, however, tends to omit the definite article even before those countries whose names show them. The only exceptions are El Salvador and La Républica Dominicana, because El and La are part of the country’s official name. There is no contraction of a + el when speaking about El Salvador.

Use the definite article with geographical names that are modified:

América es grande.

But:

La América del Sur es grande.
Voy a Guatemala.
Voy a El Salvador.

Refer to the following lists for the names of countries and continents.

Countries

Argentina / la Argentina
Brazil / el Brasil
Canada / el Canadá
China/ la China
Dominican Republic / la República Dominicana
Ecuador / el Ecuador
El Salvador / El Salvador
England / Inglaterra
France / Francia
Germany / Alemania
Greece / Grecia
Haiti / Haïti
India / la India
Italy / Italia
Japan / el Japón
Mexico / México
Panama / Panamá
Paraguay / el Paraguay
Peru / el Perú
Portugal / Portugal
Russia / Rusia
Spain / España
Sweden / Suecia
Switzerland / Suiza
United States / los Estados Unidos
Uruguay / el Uruguay

Continents

Africa / África
Antarctica / Antártica
Asia / Asia
Australia / Australia
Europe / Europa
North America / Norte América, América del Norte
South America / Sud América, América del Sur

Now you can answer these questions:

¿De dónde es Ud.?
(Where are you from?)

Soy de (los) Estados Unidos.
(I’m from the United States.)

¿Adónde va Ud.?
(Where are you going?)

Voy a España.
(I?m going to Spain.)

¿Dónde vive Ud.?
(Where do you live?)

Vivo en Grecia.
(I live in Greece.)

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