translate is close to the bookstore in french

[Guy]

Hi,

I have been trying to learn some grammar but i encounter something which i like to understand.

the book i have  in french  states: la quincaillerie est près de la librarie, in english translated in my understanding will be 'the hardware store is close to the bookstore.'

Since the sentence is 'ís close to the bookstore', can i do a direct translation--> 'la quincaillerie est près en la librarie', using en instead of de?

[George Hunt]

Hi .

No you can't .Why would you want to? 

The  the word "en"  normally means "in"  but it can be used to mean "to"  in certain cirmstances .For example you would say "aller en France"  to mean "to go to France"  even though 'la quincaillerie se trouve en France" would bu used to say "the hardware store is in France"

With "près"  though ,there are no circumstances as far as I know where you would ever follow it with "en"  .It is always "près de"  ( although you can use it on its own as in "la boutique se trouve tout près" (or "la boutique se trouve à coté")