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Le chien est près de l'entrée.

Le chien est près de l'entrée.
The dog is near the entrance.
FromLesson 7inHardcore French

Breakdown of Le chien est près de l'entrée.

être
to be
le chien
the dog
près de
near
l'entrée
the entrance

Questions & Answers about Le chien est près de l'entrée.

What does près de mean in this sentence?
Près de translates to near or close to. In the sentence, it indicates that the dog is located in close proximity to something—in this case, the entrance.
Why is the preposition de used after près instead of using près alone?
In French, près is almost always paired with de to form the prepositional phrase près de. This structure is required to connect the adjective describing proximity to the object (here, the entrance). Omitting de would be grammatically incorrect.
Why is the word l'entrée written with an apostrophe rather than as la entrée?
Because entrée starts with a vowel sound, the feminine definite article la contracts to l' for easier pronunciation and smoother flow in speech. This contraction is common in French whenever a vowel follows the article.
How would the sentence change if the noun following près de were masculine or started with a consonant?
If the noun were masculine and began with a consonant—for example, park as parc—the definite article would be le, and after de, they contract to form du. So the sentence might change to Le chien est près du parc.
Is there another way to express the idea of being "near the entrance" in French?
Yes, you could also say à côté de l'entrée, which means next to the entrance. While both expressions indicate proximity, près de l'entrée generally implies being close by, whereas à côté de l'entrée suggests being directly beside it.
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“How does grammatical gender work in French?”
Every French noun is either masculine or feminine, and this affects the articles and adjectives used with it. "Le" is used with masculine nouns and "la" with feminine ones. Adjectives also change form to match — for example, "petit" (masc.) becomes "petite" (fem.).

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