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Leveling up with au niveau de

The expression au niveau de means "at the level of" or "on the level of." You can use this expression to talk about something that's physically level with something else:

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

 

...pour avoir de l'eau au niveau des genoux,

...having the water at knee level,

vous allez être emporté de ce côté.

you are going to be carried away to this side.

Captions 12-13, À la plage avec Lionel - La plage

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La ville est au niveau de la mer.

The city is at sea level.

 

Or, as in English, it can refer to more general things, such as one's health or one's skills or abilities:

 

Ben, c'est vrai qu'au niveau de la santé,

Well, it's true that on a health level,

 je le ressens parfois.

I feel it sometimes.

Captions 80-81, Amal et Caroline - La cigarette

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Je ne suis pas au niveau des autres élèves.

I'm not at the (same) level as the other students.

 

Another way of saying "on a health level" is au niveau sanitaire. You'll often see "au niveau + adjective" (no de) used in this way: au niveau national (on a national level), au niveau économique (on an economic level), au niveau spirituel (on a spiritual level), etc.

 

But sometimes "on the level of" or "on an x level" isn't the most succinct translation of au niveau de. It's also equivalent to phrases such as "when it comes to," "regarding," and "in regards to":

 

Parce que... en France

Because... in France

on a souvent tendance

we often have a tendency

à faire des amalgames

to mix them together

en particulier au niveau du sandwich, du kebab...

particularly when it comes to sandwiches, kebabs...

-Au niveau des fromages...

-When it comes to cheeses...

Captions 54-57, Lionel et J.B. - La salade grecque

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Ensuite au niveau de la selle,

Then regarding the seat,

faut bien la régler à votre hauteur.

you should really adjust it to your height.

Captions 35-36, Amal - Vélib

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Even when referring to physical spaces, au niveau de doesn't necessarily imply that something is level with something else. It could just mean "near," "by," or "in the region/area of":

 

Bruce se rend compte qu'un autre cours d'eau rejoint son

Bruce realized that another river joined his

Nil au niveau de Khartoum.

Nile near Khartoum.

Caption 42, Il était une fois - les Explorateurs - 15. Bruce et les sources du Nil

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Au niveau de also functions as a simple preposition when used with body parts, in which case it means "in":

 

Je ressens une douleur au niveau de mon genou.

I feel a pain in my knee.

 

No matter your niveau de françaisau niveau de is a great expression to know! 

Expressions

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