les abords

I know “banlieu” is used for suburbs of a city. Is “les abords” used to mean “the outskirts, the surroundings” of a town or would people use “la périphérie?” The dictionary has “aux abords du village” meaning “outside the village” which I imagine is used.

I know “d’abord” and “tout d’abord.” Two dictionary listings that would be useful are “aux abords de la cinquantaine” meaning “about 50” and “être d’un abord difficile” meaning “to be hard to reach.” Are these used?

merci d’avance

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Permalink Reply by Chantal Savignat on March 20, 2013 at 8:01pm

Hello Alan

"Les abords" means "near an area", and is not only used for a town but can be used for anything.

You have "les abords de la forêt", les abords de la piscine", "les abords de la France" and "les abords de Paris"

It's used yes, when you want to speak about a not-define place near a well-define area.

"la périphérie" is the outskirts of a town. It's used, rarely in conversation, but you can hear that in tv or paper news

"aux abord de la cinquantaine" yes it's use, but not in conversation, you can find that in a medical book, or in a magazine about diet. In a conversation we say rather "autour de la cinquantaine".

You can have the form "aborder la cinquantaine" with the verb "aborder", it's more used.

"être d'un abord difficile" yes it's used.

It's weir but we say rather "il n'est pas d'un abord facile" than "il est d'un abord difficile" you see the difference with the negative form.