Expressing distance in French with "à ... de ..." = (at) ... km from ... (French Prepositions)

In French, to say that a place or a person is (at) a certain distance  from somewhere, you use the expression:

 à [distance] de [lieu]

How to express distances with "à ... de ..." in French

Look at these examples:

Je suis à 5 minutes de Paris.I'm 5 minutes from Paris.

J'habite à 2 h de Montpellier.I live 2 hours from Montpellier.

Tu habites à 10 km de Lille.You live 10 km from Lille.

Le supermarché est à 500 m de la poste.The supermarket is 500 m from the post office.

Note that the distance can be expressed as a duration5 minutes from Paris - or as a physical distance - 5 km from Paris.

ATTENTION:

In French, you must always use à before the distance:

Je suis cinq minutes de Paris. -> Je suis à cinq minutes de Paris. 

Note also that when locations are introduced by the definite articles le and lesde contracts into du and des 

Je suis à 1 kilomètre du cinéma.I'm 1 kilometre from the cinema.

L'école est à 15 min des magasins.The school is 15 min from the shops.

 

 

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Examples and resources

Je suis à 5 minutes de Paris.I'm 5 minutes from Paris.
Je suis à 1 kilomètre du cinéma.I'm 1 kilometre from the cinema.
J'habite à 2 h de Montpellier.I live 2 hours from Montpellier.
Le supermarché est à 500 m de la poste.The supermarket is 500 m from the post office.
Tu habites à 10 km de Lille.You live 10 km from Lille.
L'école est à 15 min des magasins.The school is 15 min from the shops.
Expressing distance in French with "à ... de ..." = (at) ... km from ... (French Prepositions)
1 of 2
Ils sont . (They are an hour from here.)
ici = here

Q&A Forum 12 questions, 25 answers

CC Z.B2Kwiziq community member

What are the differences between these two sentences?

Please help for the following : 

What are the differences between these two sentences

1) Il habite à dix minutes de Marseille. 

2) Il habite à 10 min de Marseille. 

My answer was the number one, but the Kwiziq marked it wrong. 

Thank you!




Asked 11 months ago
CécileKwiziq Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Hi CC,

The only question with ' ... à 10 minutes de Marseille' uses a different subject -

Mes parents habitent ____ ( My parents live ten minutes from Marseille)

Could you have possibly changed what was asked of you as the part of your answer you are querying should be accepted?

If this is not the case, please report to the Helpdesk.

Hope this helps!

CC Z. asked:

What are the differences between these two sentences?

Please help for the following : 

What are the differences between these two sentences

1) Il habite à dix minutes de Marseille. 

2) Il habite à 10 min de Marseille. 

My answer was the number one, but the Kwiziq marked it wrong. 

Thank you!




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Robert B.C1Kwiziq community member

"à 2 heures de Chartes" vs "à 2h de Chartres"

My nearly correct answer was "à 2 heures de Chartes". Why was it not completely correct?

By the way, according to the BIPM (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures), the official way to abbreviate "2 heures" is not "2h" but rather "2 h" with a space. See page 149 of

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.bipm.org/documents/20126/41483022/SI-Brochure-9-EN.pdf



Asked 2 years ago
CécileKwiziq Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Hi Robert, 

You must have read my mind!

I have been working on a standardization of our editorial regarding SI units and this lesson cropped up.

It has now been updated to respect international norms.

bonne Continuation !

 

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

If you wrote your answer exactly as indicated in your question, you misspelled ‘Chartres’ as ‘Chartes’.  This doesn’t affect ‘the bot’s confidence in you’ as I understand it, but just highlights a minor and otherwise inconsequential error. 

I agree that the use of ‘2h’ in the lesson example is technically incorrect and should be corrected to ‘2 h’ . 

Robert B. asked:

"à 2 heures de Chartes" vs "à 2h de Chartres"

My nearly correct answer was "à 2 heures de Chartes". Why was it not completely correct?

By the way, according to the BIPM (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures), the official way to abbreviate "2 heures" is not "2h" but rather "2 h" with a space. See page 149 of

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.bipm.org/documents/20126/41483022/SI-Brochure-9-EN.pdf



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Sid S.C1Kwiziq community member

10 mins and 10 minutes are BOTH correct

To all those who are confused about why 10 mins etc. is correct and 10 minutes is wrong, please ignore the given explanations as they make no sense whatsoever. They are both correct!

Asked 2 years ago
CécileKwiziq Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Dear Sid,

We have just updated this lesson to remove some of the confusion.

As far as SI units are concerned, the plural of 'min' (abbreviation of minute) is tolerated in colloquial texts, (text messages, dialogues, vernacular) but not in academic or scientific literature.

We have therefore decided to accept it as correct.

Hope this helps and bonne continuation !

 

Sid S. asked:

10 mins and 10 minutes are BOTH correct

To all those who are confused about why 10 mins etc. is correct and 10 minutes is wrong, please ignore the given explanations as they make no sense whatsoever. They are both correct!

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Virginia Y.B2Kwiziq community member

10 minutes from= a 10 mins de

I do not understand why a 10 minutes de is wrong, and a 10 mins de is right. I have not yet seen the latter given as an example.


Asked 3 years ago
Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Virginia,

Did you write a or à?   Perhaps this is the simple explanation? Otherwise, suggest you file an error report. 

Jim

CécileKwiziq Native French Teacher

Hi Virginia,

Which Kwiz question are you referring to so that I can check that both 'minutes' and the abbreviation 'mins' are accepted ?

Virginia Y. asked:

10 minutes from= a 10 mins de

I do not understand why a 10 minutes de is wrong, and a 10 mins de is right. I have not yet seen the latter given as an example.


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Vivienne J.C1Kwiziq community member

À deux heures de v à 2 h de

Why is it incorrect to write “à deux heures de” rather than “à 2 h de?”

Asked 3 years ago
CélineKwiziq Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Bonjour Vivienne,

"à deux heures de / à 2 h de" are both correct. However, if you forget to add 'Chartres' in the answer, it will be given as wrong. 

I hope this helpful.

Bonne journée !

Vivienne J. asked:

À deux heures de v à 2 h de

Why is it incorrect to write “à deux heures de” rather than “à 2 h de?”

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Carol W.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

a 2h vs a 2 heures

why is 2h preferable to 2heures? writing the word got me marked as nearly correct

Asked 3 years ago
CélineKwiziq Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Bonjour Carol,

" à 2heures " is a nearly correct answer because there is always a space between the number and the full written word 

" à 2 heures " -   " à 3 kilomètres 

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Carol W. asked:

a 2h vs a 2 heures

why is 2h preferable to 2heures? writing the word got me marked as nearly correct

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nicole r.A2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

De plus infinitive verb

Hello,

I have a question. I am working on this sentence. Elle menace de partir for the present tense. 

 I was wondering why they use de partir instead of  à meaning to leave.

Thanks

Nicole

Asked 4 years ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

The correct usage is menacer quelqu'un de faire quelque chose. Many verbs take de and others take à. Some even take both and change meaning. Best you learn the prepositions to use along with the verb.

nicole r. asked:

De plus infinitive verb

Hello,

I have a question. I am working on this sentence. Elle menace de partir for the present tense. 

 I was wondering why they use de partir instead of  à meaning to leave.

Thanks

Nicole

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Jack B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Numbers v numerals

The test answers are inconsistent; sometimes dix is changed to 10 and minutes to min and heurs to h.   And sometimes not!  IMHO if it is written as a word in the question then it should be written as a word in the answer ie ten = dix  and hours = heurs.

Asked 5 years ago
Jack B. asked:

Numbers v numerals

The test answers are inconsistent; sometimes dix is changed to 10 and minutes to min and heurs to h.   And sometimes not!  IMHO if it is written as a word in the question then it should be written as a word in the answer ie ten = dix  and hours = heurs.

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Elizabeth P.A2Kwiziq community member

Hello, Thank you for this lesson. Would we use 'de la' if the lieu is féminin? I only saw a mention of du/des. Thank you.

Asked 5 years ago
CécileKwiziq Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Hi Elizabeth, 

Yes, you could say for example -

"Nous sommes à 5 km de la maison "

Hope this helps!

Elizabeth P.A2Kwiziq community member

Thank you!

Elizabeth P. asked:

Hello, Thank you for this lesson. Would we use 'de la' if the lieu is féminin? I only saw a mention of du/des. Thank you.

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Marnie C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

I’m vs kilometres

I was marked “almost right” when I used ‘kilometres’ instead of ‘km’.  Do you always abbreviate distances?
Asked 6 years ago
AurélieKwiziq Head of French, Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Bonjour Marnie !

I've had a look at your Correction Board, and Chris's intuition was right: you forgot the accent on "kilometres", hence the Nearly Correct mark :)

When reporting about specific scoring issues, please use the "Report it" button in your Correction Board, which sends us a link straight to the question you're referring to :)

Bonne journée !

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Are you sure you spelled it correctly (kilomètres)?
Marnie C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Yes
Marnie C. asked:

I’m vs kilometres

I was marked “almost right” when I used ‘kilometres’ instead of ‘km’.  Do you always abbreviate distances?

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L. B.C1Kwiziq community member

In the quiz it marked wrong when I spelled out dix minutes. in the answer it had 10 mins

Asked 7 years ago
Ron T.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Bonjour Louise, I think your response is correct and this does seem to be a programming miscue. I am not aware of any grammar rule that requires to use the number (10) in lieu of spelling it out. Bonne chance. Ron
Chuck P.C1Kwiziq community member
I was marked wrong when I spelled out dix minutes but it was because I misspelled Marseille. That was explained to me when I reported the issue.
Bonnie Y.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
And I wrote dix minuts, forgetting the final e of minutes, It seems to me that mispellings like that and Marseille spelled wrong should be yellow errors, not red.
Craig B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

There is an error in the answer:  "minutes" has somehow been truncated to "mins"

I would like to point out that if the English phrase to be translated spells out "ten" then so should the answer. Also, I was taught in school that the grammer "guideline" (not rule) is that numbers zero through ten should be spelled out in sentences .

Carl S.C1Kwiziq community member

After all these notifications a response or correction is overdue

L. B. asked:

In the quiz it marked wrong when I spelled out dix minutes. in the answer it had 10 mins

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Mark A.B1Kwiziq community member

This doesn't quite seem like a reasonable thing to count as a miss:

Asked 7 years ago
AurélieKwiziq Head of French, Native French TeacherCorrect answer
Bonjour Mark !

Unfortunately, I cannot see which question you're referring to when you contact us through the Q&A section.
If you have a specific question-related issue, please click the "Report it" button next to the relevant question in your Correction Board.

À bientôt !
Bonnie Y.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Mes parents habitent ________ .My parents live ten minutes from Marseille
Bonnie Y.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Since it's written out in English, you'd expect to write it out in French.
Bonnie Y.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Since it's written out in English, you'd expect that it should be written out in French.
AurélieKwiziq Head of French, Native French Teacher

Bonjour Bonnie !

I've had a look at your Correction Board, and the reason you were marked down is that you wrote "à dix minuts de Marseille" which was incorrect.
"à dix minutes de Marseille" as well as other alternatives are accepted as correct by the system :)

For similar questions, in the future please use the "Report it" button in your Correction Board, as it links directly to the specific quiz take you're referring to, and makes it easier for us to answer you :)

Bonne journée !

Linda S.C1Kwiziq community member

2 hours from chartes I wrote as à deux heures de chartes and it was marked wrong giving the correct response of à 2h de chartes??????

Mark A. asked:

This doesn't quite seem like a reasonable thing to count as a miss:

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