le long de

The French phrase “le long de” means “along” in English. It is a preposition. However, there are other ways of translating “along,” depending on the exact meaning of the English term.

  • les maisons situées le long de la rivière (the houses along the riverbank)
  • le long du sentier (along the path)
  • tout le long du canal (all along the canal)

Related words

  • longer (to go along, to follow, to run alongside, to sail along)
  • sur (marcher sur la plage = to walk along the beach)
  • mi- (à mi-chemin = halfway along the path)
  • accompagné de (arriver accompagné de deux amis = to arrive, along with 2 friends)
  • en même temps que (être appelé en même temps que deux autres = to be called, along with 2 others)

Etymology

“Le long de” comes from the French word “long,” which in turn comes from the Latin word “longus,” meaning “far, extended, remote, distant, vast, long, long duration or lengthy.”

Don’t miss new articles!

Get 1 email a week with new articles about French

We don’t spam! Read more in our privacy policy

Similar Posts

  • tenir la jambe

    The French saying “tenir la jambe” means literally “to hold the leg.” What it means figuratively is “to hold someone back or to delay someone by saying lots of boring or irrelevant things to them.” This conjures up images of trying to get away from someone who insists on telling you something, even though you…

  • être

    The French verb “être” is the equivalent of the English verb “to be.” It’s the most frequently used verb in the whole French language. It’s an irregular verb, which means that is doesn’t follow regular conjugation patterns. This is the present tense of être: The verb être is used to express identity, nationality, and describing…

  • verb: dessiner

    Meaning The primary meaning of the French verb “dessiner” is “to draw,” “to design,” “to map out,” “to outline,” “to depict” or even “to portray.” For example, “Il a su dessiner un tableau vivant de la scène.” Conjugation “Dessiner” is a regular “-er” verb, meaning it follows the typical conjugation patterns for this type of…

  • because

    How do you say “because” in French? Most learners are familiar with “parce que,” meaning “because.” “Parce que” is followed by a phrase containing a verb. That means you can’t use “parce que” to say something like “I won’t go to the beach, because of the rain.” The words “the rain” don’t contain a verb,…

  • Grammar: Irregular verbs

    Here are the 19 most important irregular verbs to know in French. They are important because they are very frequently used. They are also important to know because many exist in compound form (eg, venir is used in the compound forms revenir, devenir, prévenir, provenir, convenir, survenir and advenir, among others). Since these 19 verbs…