Learn Hardcore French: Ces montagnes sont loin, mais je veux les visiter l’année prochaine. - These mountains are far away, but I want to visit them next year.

In French, ces is the plural form of the demonstrative adjective that translates as "these" or "those." The choice among ce, cet, cette, and ces depends on the gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) of the noun. Since we’re talking about plural mountains, we use ces.

What does loin mean, and why do we use it in this sentence?

Loin generally means "far," indicating a considerable distance. In this sentence, it emphasizes that the mountains are not close by. It's a common way in French to say something is "far away."

Why do we say je veux les visiter instead of je veux visiter?

The direct object pronoun les refers back to the mountains (mountains = plural, thus les). In French, we typically need to use an object pronoun (les) when we say we want to perform an action on something previously mentioned—here, visiting the mountains.

What is the difference between année and an, as in l’année prochaine?

Both an and année translate to "year," but an often refers to the year in a more general sense (e.g., "il a 20 ans"), while année often indicates a duration or the idea of a year as a span of time (e.g., "toute l’année"). Also, l’année prochaine ("next year") is the more common way to express future years when you see them as a span of time.

Is it correct to say la prochaine année instead of l’année prochaine?

La prochaine année is not technically wrong, but it’s less common and can sound a bit formal or unusual in everyday French. L’année prochaine is the standard, natural-sounding way to say "next year" in modern spoken or written French.

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