My Neighbourhood: Vocabulary and Prepositions of Place
The places in your area, the little words that put them somewhere, and the contraction that catches everyone: a cote de le cinema is wrong, and here is why.
Practise it, do not just read it
Free interactive practice you can do alone, with the answers checked as you go.
Start revising freeWhat you'll cover
Où habites-tu ?
Describing your area is one of the things you will be asked to do in every skill: what is there, and where it is in relation to everything else. That means two jobs. The nouns, each learned with its article so you know the gender, and the little words of place that put one thing next to, opposite or between the others. The second job is where the marks quietly go.
Dans mon quartier
Learn each one with its article. The last three are marked because the specification lists them as Higher tier only:
Match each place to its meaning
- la gare
- la piscine
- la mairie
- l'usine
- the railway station
- the swimming pool
- the town hall
- the factory
Les faux amis
Some French words look like English ones and mean something else. This topic has the three best examples in the whole course: • la bibliothèque is a LIBRARY. A bookshop is la librairie. • le magasin is a SHOP. A magazine is le magazine. • la campagne is the COUNTRYSIDE, not a campaign. The flip side is worth knowing too: le restaurant, le cinéma, la banque and le parc mean exactly what they look like. Learn those once and spend your revision on the words that fight back.
Ça veut dire quoi ?
Your French friend says: "Je vais à la bibliothèque." Where are they going?
- To the library
- To the bookshop
- To a shop
- To the cinema
Les prépositions de lieu
These are the words that place one thing in relation to another:
The half that changes
Look at that list again and you will see it splits in two. Some prepositions end in de and some do not, and that single fact decides whether the next word changes. de + le becomes du, and de + les becomes des. Before a feminine or a vowel, de la and de l' stay as they are.
Complète les phrases
La piscine est à côté _____ cinéma. Le magasin est en face _____ gare. J'habite près _____ magasins.
Quelle forme ?
How do you write "next to the park", when le parc is masculine?
- à côté du parc
- à côté de le parc
- à côté de la parc
- à côté au parc
Match each preposition to its meaning
- devant
- derrière
- entre
- loin de
- in front of
- behind
- between
- far from
Quelles phrases sont correctes ?
Select the TWO sentences that are written correctly.
- Il y a un parc entre la mairie et l'école.
- J'habite près du stade.
- La piscine est loin de les magasins.
- Le bus s'arrête devant du cinéma.
Décris ta rue
A French exchange student asks what is in your area. Choose the right French each time.
- You want to say the swimming pool is next to the cinema (le cinéma is masculine).
- Now you want to say the shop is opposite the station (la gare is feminine).
- Finally, you want to say you live far from the shops (les magasins is plural).
Le résumé
A library is _____ and a bookshop is _____. The countryside is _____. When a preposition ends in de, de plus le becomes _____ and de plus les becomes _____. Prepositions like devant and entre do not contract at all.
Ton quartier
Écris quatre ou cinq phrases en français sur ton quartier. Where do you live, what is there, and where are those places in relation to each other?
- Commence par : "J'habite à..." or "Dans mon quartier, il y a..."
- Name at least three places, each with the correct article
- Use at least two prepositions of place, and at least one of them must contract (du or des)
- Use one preposition that does NOT contract, such as devant, derrière or entre
- Add one opinion with a reason: "J'aime mon quartier parce que..."