Breakdown of La soupière est près des cuillères à soupe.
être
to be
la soupe
the soup
près de
near to / close to
la cuillère
the spoon
Questions & Answers about La soupière est près des cuillères à soupe.
Why is it cuillères à soupe and not cuillères de soupe?
Why doesn't the sentence say le bol à soupe instead of la soupière?
Why doesn't soupe have an s at the end in des cuillères à soupe?
When pluralizing a compound noun linked by a preposition like à, only the first noun (the main object) becomes plural. You have multiple spoons (cuillères), but their fixed purpose remains singular (soupe, treated here as an uncountable concept).
Why is it près des instead of just près de?