français · A1 · vocabulary · 4 minutes
Rooms at home
Describe a home through rooms and their positions.
Understand the choice
Room names often show what happens there: salle à manger contains an infinitive purpose phrase, while salle de bains contains de + plural bains. Learn these internal prepositions as part of each name.
Core rule: Use être for location in French, and à côté de for next to; de + la remains de la.
Notice it in context
La chambre est à côté de la salle de bains.
The bedroom is next to the bathroom.
Est locates one room; à côté de links it to the feminine phrase la salle de bains.
Nous mangeons dans la salle à manger.
We eat in the dining room.
Dans places an activity inside a room.
La cuisine donne sur un petit balcon.
The kitchen opens onto a small balcony.
Donner sur is the natural phrase for a room or window facing a space.
What to remember
- Chambre can mean bedroom or hotel room; context distinguishes them.
- Salon is the living room and can also mean a trade fair, exhibition, or salon.
Common trap: Do not translate “next to” as prochain de. Use à côté de for physical position; prochain means next or upcoming.