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Le soleil passe à travers les arbres.

Le soleil passe à travers les arbres.
The sun comes through the trees.
From Lesson 344:Among versus between (parmi / entre)·French

Questions & Answers about Le soleil passe à travers les arbres.

Since this lesson is about entre and parmi, why use à travers here instead of entre les arbres or parmi les arbres?
Entre describes a location between specific items, and parmi means among a larger group. Sunlight physically travels through the obstacle of the leaves and branches, so French uses à travers (through). Saying entre les arbres would just mean the sun is positioned in the gap between them, rather than piercing through.
Could I use au travers de instead of à travers?
Yes, they both mean through. However, à travers is directly followed by the noun, while au travers de requires the preposition de. If you used it here, you would have to say au travers des arbres (combining de + les). À travers is generally more common for moving through spaces.
The English translation says comes through. Why does the French use passe instead of vient?
French strongly prefers passer (to pass) to describe the trajectory of light, wind, or objects crossing a space or barrier. Using vient (to come) places too much focus on the sun moving toward the speaker as a destination, rather than the action of crossing the trees.

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