"Elles marchent là-bas."

Translation: They walk there.

[lkt005]

la-bas means "over there" even though it literally means "down there".

[DavidRomell]

How do I distinguish the singular from the plural? I fail nearly every time!

[Philerooski]

The translation of "bas" makes no sense whatsoever in this sentence.

[Sitesurf]

"là-bas" is an idiom.

@delapouite: what you describe is "ici-bas" (Earth vs Heaven)

[delapouite]

I guess it's some legacy expression from a more religious era. "là-bas" , "down there", = "in our material world" by opposition to paradise which is described to be up in the sky.

[mere_des_chats]

My understanding of "là-bas" is that it also means "over there" so I had no problem with the sentence. My only concern was the pronunciation which sounded off. Instead of [lah-bah], it sounded like [lay-bah].

[cosentino]

Should "they walk down there" be acceptable as well?

[mere_des_chats]

Someone upthread said it was accepted.