A great distance away in space or time
Encoding Strategies:
mnemonic
visual
legs
legs
Lejos means far and sounds like the English word legs0, since you need your legs to get somewhere far away.
lejos
far, far away (distance)
Something that is a long distance away.
¿Está lejos el aeropuerto?Is the airport far?
Mis abuelos viven muy lejosMy grandparents live very far away
far off, a long way off (time)
Something that won't happen for a long time, it's a long time away.
Las vacaciones todavía están lejosVacation is still far off
Para mí, la jubilación está muy lejosFor me, retirement is a long way off
lejos de
far from
Describes something as far from something else.
Vivo lejos de mi familiaI live far from my family
El hotel no está lejos de la playaThe hotel isn't far from the beach
far from, rather than (contrary)
Describes something that is the opposite of something else, it's far from what you expected.
Lejos de calmarse, el perro ladró más fuerteFar from calming down, the dog barked louder
Lejos de ayudar, sus consejos empeoraron todoRather than helping, his advice made everything worse
a lo lejos
in the distance, far off
Expresses that something is far away or in the distance. Lo lejos means “the far-off,” with lo referring vaguely to an abstract thing or place. Adding a gives us a lo lejos, literally “at the far-off,” meaning somewhere in the distance.
A lo lejos se veían las luces de la ciudadIn the distance you could see the city lights
Un perro ladraba a lo lejosA dog was barking far off
de lejos
from a distance, from afar
Describes something seen or done from a long way away. De means “from,” so de lejos is literally “from far.”
De lejos parece más pequeñoFrom a distance it looks smaller
Te reconocí de lejosI recognized you from afar
by far, far and away (comparison)
Describes something that is better than everything else by a wide margin. The difference is so big that you can see it even “from far” away, which is what English means by “by far.”
Es de lejos el mejor restaurante del barrioIt's by far the best restaurant in the neighborhood
Ella fue de lejos la más rápidaShe was far and away the fastest
ni de lejos
not by a long shot, nowhere near
Expresses that something isn't true at all. Ni means “not even,” so ni de lejos is literally “not even from far.” From a distance details blur and things start to look alike, so if something doesn't look right even from far away, it isn't true in any way.
Mi español no es perfecto, ni de lejosMy Spanish isn't perfect, not by a long shot
No estamos ni de lejos listos para el examenWe're nowhere near ready for the exam