Adverbs of place "chez", "derrière", "devant", "loin"...

What these words do (adverbs of place)

These expressions answer one key question:

• Où ? = Where?

They help you describe location in a simple, practical way (at home, at work, in a restaurant).

The most important patterns to memorize

Word order: where to place them in the sentence

• Most often, place the adverb of place after the verb (often near the end of the sentence).
• Sometimes it can go between the subject and the verb, especially in short sentences.

Self-check: Can you still hear a complete sentence if you remove the place expression? If yes, the placement is usually fine.

“De” is part of the expression (and it often contracts)

Many of these are built with de. Don’t translate word-by-word; learn them as a block:

• à côté de, en face de, au-dessus de, au-dessous de, près de, loin de

When de meets le or les, it changes:

Common mistake to avoid: en face de les assiettes → en face des assiettes

Chez: the “special one” (use it with people)

• chez + person: chez Marie, chez mon collègue
• chez + pronoun: chez moi, chez toi, chez lui, chez elle, chez nous, chez vous, chez eux/elles

Meaning: “at someone’s home / office / place” (not “in” a building).

• Je déjeune chez un client. (at a client’s place)
• Je déjeune à la maison de moi → Je déjeune chez moi.

Above vs. on: don’t confuse “au-dessus de” with “sur”

• au-dessus de = above (not necessarily touching)
• sur = on top of (touching)

Quick decision guide (pick the right one)

1. Is it a person/place like “at Paul’s”? → use chez
2. Is it a relationship between two objects? → use à côté de / en face de / devant / derrière
3. Is it vertical? → use au-dessus de / au-dessous de
4. Is it distance? → use près de / loin de

Final self-check: Say it aloud with the full block (e.g., en face de). If you feel tempted to add an extra word, you probably haven’t learned the expression as one unit yet.