Course Information

Course: French IB v.3
Unit: 1. EN VILLE
Assignment: 4. Les prépositions de lieu
LES PRÉPOSITIONS DE LIEU

Have you ever been lost like the man in the picture? Well, imagine you're lost in a big city like Paris. You stop
and ask someone for his or her help, but you can't understand what they tell you. How frustrating!
Well, to make sure you can understand when someone tells you where something or someone is located, in
this lesson you're going to study a lot of new expressions, how to ask for and how to give directions.

OBJECTIVES
 Identify key prepositions of place to describe where something is located.
 Give directions using key expressions and prepositions of place.

Les prépositions de lieu

Click below the image to hear the audio.

In the dialogue above, Aurélie uses the phrases dans, sur, and sous to tell Isabelle where school items are
located. These phrases are considered prepositions. A preposition is a word like "on," "below," and "behind"
that tells how the noun in the sentence is connected to another part of the sentence. It tells the relationship.
Take, for example, the following sentence: The cat is under the tree. The preposition in this sentence is
"under" and tells you where the cat is located.

Now, take a moment to study the following prepositions. Listen to hear the correct pronunciations, and then
practice saying them aloud.

sur  → on
sous  → under
dans  → in
entre → between
devant → in front of
derrière → behind
Work through the following slide show to learn common prepositions of place in French.
Click on the loudspeaker in the lower-left corner to hear the audio. Click on Show Info to see some French
words and their English translations.

D'autres prépositions de lieu

Let's take a look at some other prepositions of place.

Click below the image to hear the audio.

Le saviez-vous ?
How would you ask for directions to a church? Simply apply the new vocabulary you learned today: 
Où est l'église, s'il vous plait ? → Where is the church, please? 

In the dialogue above, Aurélie uses several prepositions of place to tell Isabelle where the library, the movie
theater, and the park are located. She says, à côté de, "next to"; à gauche de, "to the left of"; and à droite
de, "to the right of."

Besides being able to talk about what places are located in your own neighborhood, it's important to learn
these prepositions of place, so if you travel to France, you'll be able to understand when someone tells you
where something is located.

Take a moment to study the following expressions. Click to hear how each preposition is correctly
pronounced, and then practice saying it aloud.

près de → near to

loin de → far from
à droite de → to the right of
a côté de  → next to
à gauche
to the left of
de →
en face de → in front of; across from

Notice that these prepositions of place are generally followed by de. When the preposition de is followed by
a noun, decontracts with the definite articles le and les to make du and des. There's no contraction
with la or l'.

de + la → de la Le parc est à gauche de la

The park is to the left of the library.
la bibliothèque bibliothèque.
The park is far from the grocery
de + l'→ de l' l'épicerie Le parc est loin de l'épicerie.
store.
de + le → du le kiosque Le parc est à droite du kiosque. The park is to the right of the kiosk.
de + les →
les commerces Le parc est près des commerces. The park is near the stores.
des
Chez
Click below the image to see how Aurélie and Isabelle use the preposition chez. 

The preposition chez has several English equivalents and is often translated as the following:
"at" or "to" the house of someone
"at" or "to" the store of
"at" or "to" someone's place

In English, we'd just use an apostrophe + s to indicate the same thing:

Je vais chez les Martin. → I'm going to the Martins'.
Je vais chez le pharmacien. → I'm going to the pharmacist's.

Entrainons-Nous!
Question #1MultipleChoice

Choisissez la phrase qui décrit l'image. 

Où est l'oiseau ?
Il est sous la cage.
Il est sur la cage.
Il est dans la cage.
Il est devant la cage.
Question #2MultipleChoice

Choisissez la phrase qui décrit l'image. 

L'épicerie est dans l'homme.
L'homme est derrière l'épicerie.
L'épicerie est devant l'homme.
L'homme est devant l'épicerie.
Question #3MultipleChoice
Choisissez la phrase qui décrit l'image. 
Il est sur la table.
Il est sous la table.
Il est dans la table.
Il est devant la table.
LES PRÉPOSITIONS DE LIEU
A tourist asks Aurélie for directions because she's lost. Click below the image to hear the dialogue.\

In the comic strip above, you saw the tourist ask Aurélie how to get to the market. Then, Aurélie uses several
expressions to tell the tourist how to get there, such as:

Vous continuez tout droit. → You continue straight ahead.

Vous tournez à gauche. → You turn left.

Demander son chemin.

Now it's your turn to learn how to ask for and give directions. In the dialogue, the tourist uses the
expression Excusez-moi de vous déranger, which means "Sorry to disturb you."

When asking someone for directions, it's polite to first greet the person with Bonjour, and then to use one of
the following expressions.

 Excusez-moi. → Excuse me.

Excusez-moi de vous déranger. → Sorry to disturb you.
 Je suis perdu, -e. → I am lost.

Once you've stopped the person, you need to tell him or her that you're looking for a place, so use the
following expressions that mean "Where is ___?" 
 Où est___ ? Where is ___?
 Où se trouve ___ ? Where is ___?
Bonne Idee!
Learning new expressions and phrases gets easier if you use them everyday. When you're out riding a bike or
walking with your friends, talk about your route as you go, using the expressions you learned in this lesson.
Comprendre les indications. Once you've asked for directions, you might hear the following directions used.
Make sure you don't confuse the expressions tout droit with à droite.Tout droit means "straight ahead,"
and à droite means "to the right." 

 Vous descendez la rue. → You go down the street.

 Vous continuez tout droit.  → You continue straight ahead.
Vous tournez à droite. → You turn right.
Vous tournez à gauche. → You turn left.
Vous traversez la rue. → You cross the street.
Entrainons-Nous!
Cliquez ici pour voir et imprimer la liste de vocabulaire.
RÉVISONS!
In this lesson, you learned several new prepositions of place that'll help you indicate where something or
someone is located. You also learned some new expressions that'll help you ask for and give directions.
Before moving to the next section, make sure you can identify the location of places or things. Also, make
sure you can give directions using the key phrases you learned.
Don't forget to review the vocabulary in the last section of this lesson.

Question #4TextMultipleChoice
Écoutez le dialogue. Puis, choisissez la préposition qui complète la phrase.
Listen to the audio.
Le café est à côté du cinéma et le kiosque est à gauche du cinéma.
Question #5TextMultipleChoice
Écoutez le dialogue. Puis, choisissez la préposition qui complète la phrase.
Listen to the audio.
La librairie est près du lycée mais la pharmacie est loin du lycée.
Question #6TextMultipleChoice
Regardez le plan et choisissez la bonne préposition de lieu pour compléter la phrase.

Question #7MultipleChoice
Choisissez la phrase qui décrit l'image. 
Vous continuez tout droit et vous tournez à droite.
Vous tournez à droite, puis vous tournez à gauche.
Vous descendez la rue et vous continuez tout droit.
Vous continuez tout droit et vous tournez à gauche.
Question #8MultipleChoice

Choisissez la phrase qui décrit l'image. 

Vous tournez à gauche et vous continuez tout droit.
Vous tournez à gauche et vous descendez la rue.
Vous tournez à droite et vous tournez à gauche.
Vous tournez à droite et vous continuez tout droit.
VOCABULARY
a côté (de) next to

à droite (de) to the right (of)

à gauche (de) to the left (of)

chez at the house of; at the store of

dans in

derrière behind

devant in front of

en face (de) in front of; across from

entre between

loin (de) far from

près (de) near to

sous under

sur on

tout droit straight ahead

VOCABULARY
Excusez-moi. Excuse me.
Excusez-moi de vous
Sorry to disturb you.
déranger.

Je suis perdu, -e. I am lost.

Où est___ ? Where is ___?

Où se trouve___ ? Where is ___?

Vous descendez la rue. You go down the street.

Vous continuez tout droit. You continue straight ahead.

Vous tournez à droite. You turn right.

Vous tournez à gauche. You turn left.

Vous traversez la rue. You cross the street.