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Nous habitons proche de la mer.

Nous habitons proche de la mer.
We live close to the sea.
From Lesson 92:Complex prepositions of location (près de, à côté de)·French

Questions & Answers about Nous habitons proche de la mer.

The lesson mentions près de, so why does this sentence use proche de?
Both près de and proche de mean "close to" or "near." In everyday French, you can use them interchangeably to talk about physical distance. So, Nous habitons près de la mer is also perfectly correct!
Why is it de la mer instead of a combined word like du?
The word mer (sea) is feminine, so it takes the feminine article la. The preposition de only combines with le (to make du) and les (to make des). Because it is de + la, they stay as two separate words.
Can I drop the de and just say Nous habitons proche la mer?
No, you always need de when connecting proche (or other complex prepositions like près or loin) to a noun. Without de, the sentence is grammatically incorrect.
Do I connect the words Nous and habitons when speaking?
Yes! Because habitons starts with a silent 'h', it acts like a vowel. This means you make a "liaison" (a linked sound) between the two words. The 's' at the end of Nous is pronounced like a 'z', sounding like "noo-zah-bee-tohn".

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