Breakdown of Au nord de la ville, il y a une colline verte.
Questions & Answers about Au nord de la ville, il y a une colline verte.
Both exist, but they don’t mean exactly the same thing.
Au nord de la ville = to the north of the town / north of the town (outside or beyond it).
- Example idea: The hill is located north of the town on the map.
Dans le nord de la ville = in the northern part of the town (inside the town, in its northern area).
- Example idea: A park that is in the northern district of the town.
In your sentence, the hill is outside, in the direction north of the town, so au nord de la ville is correct.
Au is a contraction of à + le.
- à = at / to / in (depending on context)
- le = the (masculine singular)
nord is masculine, so à + le nord becomes au nord.
You must use the contraction: you cannot say ✗ à le nord in French.
Because la ville is feminine.
- de + la → de la (no contraction)
- ville is feminine, so it takes la, not le.
You only get the contraction du (de + le) when the noun is masculine:
- du village = de + le village
But de la ville stays as two separate words.
Yes, that is perfectly correct and very common:
- Il y a une colline verte au nord de la ville.
- Au nord de la ville, il y a une colline verte.
Both mean the same thing.
Putting Au nord de la ville at the beginning simply emphasizes the location.
Literally, il y a comes from il (it) + y (there) + a (has / is), but you should treat it as a fixed expression meaning:
- there is / there are
You use il y a to introduce or state the existence of something:
- Il y a une colline. – There is a hill.
- Il y a des arbres. – There are trees.
It doesn’t change for plural: il y a works for both singular and plural; only the noun changes.
Because colline is a feminine noun in French.
- Feminine: une colline
- Masculine: un village, un arbre, etc.
Noun gender in French is mostly arbitrary and must be memorized with the word, e.g.:
- une colline (a hill) – feminine
- une montagne (a mountain) – feminine
- un mont (a mount) – masculine
In French, most adjectives normally come after the noun:
- une colline verte – a green hill
- une voiture rouge – a red car
Some common, short adjectives (like beau, grand, petit, vieux, jeune, bon, mauvais, nouveau) often come before the noun:
- une grande ville – a big city
- un petit village – a small village
But colors generally come after the noun, so colline verte is the natural order.
Because adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.
- colline is feminine singular → the adjective must also be feminine singular.
Base adjective: vert (green)
Feminine singular: verte (add -e)
Examples:
- un arbre vert – a green tree (masculine)
- une colline verte – a green hill (feminine)
You can, but it sounds literary or poetic, not neutral everyday French.
- une colline verte = normal, neutral description.
- une verte colline = more stylistic, poetic emphasis on green.
For standard speech and writing, use noun + color, so une colline verte.
In French, cardinal directions are not capitalized when they simply indicate direction or position:
- au nord de la ville – to the north of the town
- vers le sud – toward the south
They are capitalized when they refer to a region or political area:
- le Nord (the northern region of a country)
- l’Amérique du Sud (South America)
In your sentence, it’s just a direction, so nord stays lowercase.
It’s optional but recommended.
- Au nord de la ville il y a une colline verte. – understandable
- Au nord de la ville, il y a une colline verte. – clearer and more natural
The comma marks the pause after the introductory location phrase. In normal writing, you would usually include it.