Learn French: Le chat est ici.

Le chat est ici.

The cat is here.

Breakdown of Le chat est ici.

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Questions & Answers about Le chat est ici.

Why is it Le chat and not La chat or L'chat?

In French, every noun has a gender. Chat (cat) is a masculine word, so it uses the masculine article le (the). The only time le or la shrinks to l' is when the next word starts with a vowel sound, but since chat starts with a consonant, le stays whole.

Why isn't the 't' at the end of chat pronounced?

In French, consonants at the very end of a word are usually silent. So chat sounds like "shah". However, if you were talking about a female cat (la chatte), the added 'e' at the end forces you to pronounce that 't' sound.

What does est mean and why doesn't it look like the dictionary word être?

Est means "is". It is a form of the verb être (to be). Just like in English where "to be" changes completely to "is" or "am" depending on who you are talking about, French verbs change their shape too.

How do I pronounce est ici? Do the words run together?

Yes! The word est is normally pronounced like "eh" with the 's' and 't' completely silent. However, because the next word (ici) starts with a vowel, you often carry that 't' sound over to connect them. This is a common pattern called a liaison, making the phrase sound a bit like "eh-tee-see".