In French, when does à mean in. and compare it with dans?

Question

Besides en, i need help with à vs dans. sometimes im expecting à and i get dans. alot of times when im expecting dans i see à .

when do i know when to use à and when to use dans.

like-God created man in his image

Dieu a cree l'homme à son image. why isnt dans

and also Notre pere qui es aux cieux-why isnt it Notre pere qui es dans le ciel.

please help, cause im am confused.

Answer 1

In your example above, the best way to explain it is "à" here is equivalent to "(according) to", it's not really "dans" as "in" or "inside" (physically).  Otherwise, we, human, aren't real... Just God's imagination... wait, are we???  ;-)

I see you confused english "in" as in "I live in Paris" where "in" becomes "à": "J'habite à Paris", whereas "She is in her room" uses "dans": "Elle est dans sa chambre".

If you want to see the use of both prepositions, check this out: http://french.about.com/library/preposit...

I'm not much of grammar person.  I just speak it.

Answer 2

dans means in as inside, so obviously you can't say God created man inside his image.

As for the prayer, that's just how it is written, that's just how it is, and it rolls much better too lol.