Questions & Answers about Il est jeune, mais il est très intelligent.
Why does this sentence use Il est instead of C'est?
Because we are describing him using adjectives (jeune and intelligent). In French, you use il est or elle est before an adjective to describe a person. You only use c'est when identifying someone with a noun, like C'est un garçon (He is a boy). If we were talking about a woman, would jeune change to jeunee?
No, it stays exactly the same! When a French adjective already ends in an 'e' in its basic masculine form, you do not add another 'e' for the feminine form. You would just say Elle est jeune. What about intelligent? Does that change for a woman?
Yes, it does. Since intelligent ends in a consonant, you must add an 'e' to the end to describe a female: Elle est très intelligente. This also changes the pronunciation, making the 't' at the end clearly spoken. How do you pronounce très intelligent? Is the 's' silent?
Normally the 's' in très is silent, but because the next word (intelligent) starts with a vowel sound, you pronounce the 's' like a 'z' to connect them. This smooth blending is called a liaison. Learn Il est jeune, mais il est très intelligent and more in French
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