Our World
Solar System
Did you know that the Sun isn’t a planet – une planète, but a star – une étoile?
une planète - a planet
une étoile - a star
le Soleil - the Sun
la Lune - the Moon
Here are the names of the planets:
la Terre - the Earth
Mercure - Mercury
Saturne - Saturn
Uranus - Uranus
Jupiter - Jupiter
Neptune - Neptune
Vénus - Venus
Mars - Mars
Pluton - Pluto
Have you noticed how many planets are the same or nearly the same in English and French?
DID YOU KNOW... The days of the week and months in French come from the planets? Lundi (Monday) comes from la lune and mars (March) from Mars.
To say where the planets are you can use these phrases:
près de - near
loin de - far from
C’est près de la Terre. - It’s near the Earth.
C’est loin de Mercure. - It’s far from Mercury.
If you want to talk about where things are in relation to le Soleil, you need to ‘squash’ the de and the le together to become du.
C’est près du Soleil. - It’s near the Sun.
