Selon la météo, nous irons soit au marché, soit au musée, mais pas trop loin.

Selon is a preposition that often means according to or depending on.

In this sentence, Selon la météo means something like:

• According to the weather forecast
• Depending on the weather

So it sets up a condition for the plan.

A few examples:

• Selon Marie, c’est une bonne idée. = According to Marie, it’s a good idea.
• Selon le temps, on sortira ou on restera chez nous. = Depending on the weather, we’ll go out or stay home.

Here, la météo usually means the weather forecast or the weather conditions, depending on context.

Nous irons is the simple future of aller.

• aller = to go
• nous allons = we are going / we go
• nous irons = we will go

Because the sentence is talking about a future plan that depends on the weather, French uses the future tense very naturally here.

Conjugation of aller in the simple future:

• j’irai
• tu iras
• il/elle ira
• nous irons
• vous irez
• ils/elles iront

Notice that aller has an irregular future stem: ir-.

Yes. Soit... soit... is a standard way to say either... or... in French.

So:

• soit au marché, soit au musée = either to the market or to the museum

It presents two alternatives.

Other examples:

• Soit tu viens, soit tu restes chez toi. = Either you come, or you stay home.
• On mangera soit des pâtes, soit du riz. = We’ll eat either pasta or rice.

It is a bit more formal or structured than some other ways of expressing choice.

Because French usually repeats it in this pattern:

• soit X, soit Y

That repetition is what creates the either... or... structure.

English does the same thing:

• either X or Y

So the repetition is normal and necessary here.

You would not usually say just soit au marché ou au musée if you want the same neat balanced structure.

Because au is the contraction of à + le.

• le marché → au marché
• le musée → au musée

So:

• à le marché becomes au marché
• à le musée becomes au musée

This is a required contraction in French.

Useful related forms:

• à + le = au
• à + les = aux
• à + la = à la
• à + l’ = à l’

Examples:

• au cinéma
• aux États-Unis
• à la plage
• à l’école

Because the article for musée is still le:

• le musée

And à + le always contracts to au, regardless of pronunciation.

So it is:

• au musée

not:

• à le musée
• à l’musée (not possible)

This can feel surprising because learners often expect a vowel to trigger à l’, but that only happens with nouns that actually take l’ as their article:

• l’école → à l’école
• l’hôpital → à l’hôpital

But musée is masculine singular with le, so it becomes au.

Because in French, the main verb often comes before the alternatives it governs.

Here the structure is:

• nous irons = we will go
• soit au marché, soit au musée = either to the market or to the museum

So literally the sentence is built like:

• We will go either to the market or to the museum

That is also possible in English, although English often feels more flexible about where either goes.

French prefers the clean structure:

• verb + soit X, soit Y

It is a shortened expression. French often leaves out words that are understood from context.

Fuller versions might be:

• mais nous n’irons pas trop loin
• mais ce ne sera pas trop loin
• mais pas trop loin de chez nous

In the original sentence, mais pas trop loin works like an added comment:

• but not too far

So yes, it is a little elliptical, but very natural.

This kind of shortening is common in everyday French.

Because this is not a full negative sentence with a conjugated verb. It is just a shortened phrase.

In a full sentence, you would normally have:

• nous n’irons pas trop loin

Here, since the verb is omitted, only pas remains:

• mais pas trop loin

This is very natural in spoken and written French when the rest is understood.

Trop means too.

So:

• pas trop loin = not too far

Compare:

• loin = far
• trop loin = too far
• pas trop loin = not too far

Examples:

• C’est trop cher. = It’s too expensive.
• Il parle trop vite. = He speaks too fast.
• Ce n’est pas trop difficile. = It’s not too difficult.

Because loin and lointain are not used in the same way.

• loin is usually an adverb meaning far
• lointain is an adjective meaning distant or far-off

Here we need an adverb after the idea of going/traveling:

• pas trop loin = not too far

You would use lointain with a noun:

• un pays lointain = a distant country
• un souvenir lointain = a distant memory

So mais pas trop loin is correct because we are talking about distance in an adverbial way.

Yes, but the nuance is a little different.

You could say:

• Selon la météo, nous irons au marché ou au musée.

This also means we’ll go to the market or the museum.

But soit... soit... is more explicit and balanced. It clearly presents two alternatives, almost like:

• one or the other

So:

• ou = simpler, more neutral
• soit... soit... = more structured, a bit more emphatic

A rough guide:

• Selon la météo → suh-lon la may-tay-o
• nous irons → noo zee-ron
• soit au marché → swah-to mar-shay
• soit au musée → swah-to myoo-zay
• mais pas trop loin → may pa tro lwan

A few useful notes:

• In nous irons, there is a liaison: nous-z-irons
• In soit au, it flows together smoothly
• loin has a nasal-type ending sound, roughly lwan

The exact English-style spelling is only approximate, but those are the main pronunciation points a learner might notice.

The commas help separate the different parts of the sentence:

• Selon la météo, = introductory phrase
• nous irons soit au marché, soit au musée, = main clause with two alternatives
• mais pas trop loin = final added restriction/comment

They make the sentence easier to read.

French punctuation here is similar to English punctuation in a sentence like:

• Depending on the weather, we’ll go either to the market, or to the museum, but not too far.

Even if punctuation can vary slightly by style, the commas in the French sentence are completely natural.