Le grand couloir est loin des chambres.

Questions & Answers about Le grand couloir est loin des chambres.

Why does the sentence use des chambres instead of de les chambres?
The complex preposition for "far from" is loin de. When de is placed right before the plural article les (the), they must merge into the contraction des. In French, you can never say de les.
If the hallway was far from a single room, how would the preposition change?
It depends on the gender of the room! If it is feminine, like la cuisine (the kitchen), it becomes loin de la cuisine (no contraction). If it is masculine, like le salon (the living room), de and le must contract to become du, making it loin du salon.
Do I always need the de after loin?
You only need de (or its contractions like du and des) when you are stating what the object is far from. If you just want to say "The hallway is far" without mentioning the bedrooms, you drop the preposition entirely and say: Le couloir est loin.
Why is grand placed before couloir? Don't French adjectives usually go after the noun?
Most adjectives do go after the noun. However, a small group of very common adjectives describing Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, and Size (often remembered by the acronym BANGS) come before the noun. Since grand describes size, it is placed before couloir.

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