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La banlieue est loin du centre-ville.

La banlieue est loin du centre-ville.
The suburbs are far from the town centre.
From Lesson 237:Around town·French

Breakdown of La banlieue est loin du centre-ville.

être
to be
loin
far
le centre-ville
the city center
la banlieue
the suburbs

Questions & Answers about La banlieue est loin du centre-ville.

Why is la banlieue singular here when the English translation says "the suburbs"?
In French, la banlieue is a singular collective noun that refers to the entire suburban area surrounding a city. English speakers usually say "the suburbs" in the plural to mean the exact same thing. Because it is singular in French, it takes the singular verb est.
Why do we use du before centre-ville instead of just de?
The phrase for "far from" is loin de. Because centre-ville is a masculine noun, it requires the article le. In French, the preposition de and the article le always contract to form du.
Does la banlieue always have a negative connotation in French?
Not always. In a basic geographical sentence like this, la banlieue simply means the suburbs or the outskirts of a city. However, when used in the plural (les banlieues) in French media, it often specifically refers to lower-income, high-density housing estates.
Why is there a hyphen in centre-ville?
Because it is a compound noun made of two separate words (centre and ville) joined together to create a single concept. If you ever need to make it plural, the traditional rule is to only add an "s" to the first word: les centres-ville.

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