Distances between places using 離れる


I got this sentence from hinative.com to mean "I live three blocks away from
here."

> ここから3ブロック離れたところに住んでいます。

Now I'm wondering about other ways to use the word 離れる／離れた and whether 所 is
always necessary. Are the following sentences correct? What is the most
natural way to say this?

> 映画館はここから二百メートル離れた所にあります。  
>  映画館はここから二百メートル離れた所です。  
>  映画館はここから二百メートル離れました。




Quick preface: My answer responds to "how to say how far one place is from
another" rather than specifically using 離れる。I don't personally have experience
hearing people use hanareru for this purpose, but it could just be that my own
learning isn't far enough or that it's from a dialect I haven't heard
(Everything below is keigo/polite unless I specify otherwise, meaning it's
more of a textbook answer; also I'm not Japanese btw so this is not a native
perspective).

Also keep in mind that in the example I give I use ここ for a question and the
answer. If you need a specific measurement, it might be better in the reply to
specify そこ.

* * *

I've honestly never heard _離れる_ as a verb for specific measurements of
distance like "3 blocks" or "200 meters". For distance, I've generally heard
either:

> １）「{destination｝｛は・が｝｛place｝から ｛distance｝先にあります」
>
> _("[destination] ha/ga [place] kara_ _[distance] saki ni arimasu")_

Which would come out as something like:

> １）「映画館はここから二百メートル先にあります。」
>
> _(Eigakan ha koko kara nihyaku meetoru saki ni arimasu)_

Keep in mind that in context this might sound normal, but if you're learning
general keigo/polite speech then:

> １）「ここから映画館は。。。」
>
> _(koko kara eigakan ha...)_

might be better in comparison to starting the sentence with _「映画館は。。。」(eigakan
ha ...)_ , but I don't think it matters much outside of sounding natural,
which changes from dialect to dialect anyways so don't worry about it too much
(I can't think of many other things at the moment that are like this),

Compared to the second way I've heard (which is below this part), this first
way of talking about distance is much better suited for starting a
conversation about distance rather than answering a question. If someone
politely asked you:「ここから映画館は何メートル先にありますか。」 _(koko kara, eigakan ha nan meetoru
saki ni arimasu ka?)_ , it would sound super weird to respond with the full
phrase response: 「ここから映画館が二百メートル先にあります。」 _(koko kara, eigakan ga (ha would
sound even weirder) nihyaku meetoru saki ni arimasu)_. If you wanted to be
extra polite by using this more polite phrasing of distance, you should at
least drop _ここから_ , but it might be best to drop the _映画館が_ as well unless
it's somebody with **much higher** status you're talking to.

Example:

> 混乱な人：「すみませんけど。ここから映画館は 何メートル先にありますか。」
>
> _(konranna hito (literally "confused person"):_ _"sumimasenkedo. koko kara
> eigakan ha_ _nanmeetoru saki ni arimasu ka.)_
>
> 君の応答：「二百メートル先にあります。」 か 「映画館が二百メートル先にあります。」
>
> _(Your response: "nihyaku meetoru saki ni arimasu" or_ *"eigakan ga nihyaku
> meetoru saki ni arimasu").

_(Don't underestimate the "ga" instead of "ha" as your particle of choice if
you go for the more complete one)_

* * *

The second way I've heard that is keigo would be a lot simpler:

> ２）「ここから二百メートルです」
>
> _(koko kara nihyaku meetoru desu)_

This way sounds a lot more natural as a response and it still works well as an
expression too (though on a scale of one to oh-my-keigo it's a bit less
polite, but still polite enough for most business/non-casual situations).

I'd say this is a bit more common in my experience for casual and keigo speak,
but it's good to know the first way. If the place you're going to isn't
already a topic you could add in 「{place｝は」at the beginning or after the
「ここから」. If it is obvious you're talking about the place you're going to, but
you want to spice up the politeness level a bit, do the same thing except use
が instead of は as the particle to sound a bit more natural.

Example:

> 混乱な人：「すみません。ここから映画館は何メートルですか。」
>
> _(konranna hito: "sumimasen. koko kara eigakan ha nanmeetoru desu ka".)_
>
> 君の応答：「ここから二百メートルです。」
>
> _(kimi no outou: "koko kara nihyaku meetoru desu".)_

Dropping the 「ここから」is fine as well in most situations. This format is also
what you'd use for non-keigo/casual-speech. You'd just make the standard non-
keigo form changes by replacing words with more casual words if they exist,
shortening/omitting words that are able to be shortened/omitted without losing
the meaning, and using tone to portray meaning instead of words/particles.

Non-Keigo Example:

> 混乱な友達：「おい！映画館… 何メートル？」
>
> _(konranna tomodachi: "oi! eigakan... nanmeetoru?")_
>
> 君の応答：「ああ、二百メートルだ」
>
> _(kimi no outou: "ah, nihyaku meetoru da")_

