📍🏛️

How to Say ‘Near the town hall’ in French

Près de la mairie

PREH duh lah meh-REE

[PREH duh lah meh-REE]

💬 Usage Tip: Près is always followed by de: près de la gare "near the station". Before le the two merge into du, as in près du café.

Phrase Breakdown

Près de

PREH duh

Near

'Près de' means near or close to. The 's' in 'près' is silent: 'pray duh'.

Example

J'habite près de Paris.

I live near Paris.

Words in this phrase

Près

[PREH]

near

Used with 'de' to mean close to.

Example

J'habite près de la gare.

I live near the station.

[duh]

Expressing the relationship between part and a whole.

Example

Un verre de lait.

A glass of milk.

la mairie

lah meh-REE

the town hall

'La mairie' is the town hall. Say 'la may-ree'.

Example

La mairie est fermée.

The town hall is closed.

Words in this phrase

[lah]

the

A definite article preceding a noun.

Example

La porte est ouverte.

The door is open.

mairie

[meh-REE]

town hall

Feminine noun for the mayor's office and local government building, a common landmark.

Example

La mairie est fermée le dimanche.

The town hall is closed on Sundays.

Guides for French learners

The Most Common French Verbs: the 20 You'll Actually UseThe 20 most common French verbs, with the present-tense forms you need, real example sentences with native audio, and two shortcuts for past and future.Ordering in French: Cafés, Bakeries and Restaurants (with Menu Vocabulary)How to order in French at a café, a bakery and a restaurant: the phrases, the questions staff ask, and the menu and food vocabulary to understand the answers.

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