Relativity isn’t just a concept in physics. Knowing the relative order of events in time, or the relative location of objects in space, is as useful here on la Terre (Earth) as it is in l’éspace (space). Fortunately French has some handy vocabulary that we can use to differentiate both.

A photo of the Eiffel Tower taken from across the river at Trocadero.

Ça se passe où? / Where’s it happening?

When you are trying to explain to someone where something is, it can often be useful to define location in relation to another object. For example, La Tour Eiffel est en face du Trocadero. (The Eiffel Tower is across from Trocadero.) Here are five other useful terms / expressions you can use in French to describe relative positions (and example sentences for each):

* You will also encounter à gauche de and à droite de which more generally mean on the left and on the right as in à la droite de l’écran (on the right (side) of the screen).

Ça se passe quand?  / When is it happening?

Similarly, describing when something happened can often be enhanced by adding information about when an event happens in relation to another event. And while the days of the week are useful for talking about specific times, relative expressions like demain, hier, and aujourd’hui can be helpful too for providing relative references in time.

** In France (and just about every country except the US, Canada, and Japan!) the week begins with lundi (Monday) and ends on dimanche (Sunday). In the US, Canada, and Japan the week begins with dimanche and ends with samedi (Saturday).

Photo of the Eiffel Tower [CC0 license] from https://www.pexels.com/photo/picture-of-eiffel-tower-338515/