Learn French: Elle travaille en face des monuments. - She works opposite the monuments.

Elle travaille en face des monuments.

She works opposite the monuments.

Breakdown of Elle travaille en face des monuments.

of the / from the (masculine singular, with plural des)

en face

opposite / across

Questions & Answers about Elle travaille en face des monuments.

Why do we use des here instead of les or de les?

The phrase for "opposite" is en face de. Since "the monuments" is plural (les monuments), we need to combine de and les. In French, de + les always contracts into des. You can never say "de les".

Does en face de literally mean "in the face of"?

Literally, yes! But in everyday French, en face de is a common fixed phrase that simply means "opposite" or "facing" a location.

How do I pronounce des monuments? Are the 's' endings silent?

Yes, both are silent! The 's' in monuments is silent because most final consonants in French are not pronounced. The 's' in des is also silent here because the next word (monuments) starts with a consonant.

Why does travaille end in an 'e' if it translates to "works"?

French verb endings change based on who is doing the action, not by adding an 's' for "she" like in English. For regular verbs ending in -er like travailler (to work), the elle (she) form always ends in just -e. The -es ending is only for tu (you).