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L'animal est ici, mais il est très petit.

L'animal est ici, mais il est très petit.
The animal is here, but it is very small.
From Lesson 3:Identifying vs. describing (c'est vs. il est)·French

Breakdown of L'animal est ici, mais il est très petit.

être
to be
il
he
ici
here
l'animal
the animal (m)
petit
small / short
mais
but
très
very

Questions & Answers about L'animal est ici, mais il est très petit.

Why do we use il est instead of c'est in this sentence?
Because we are describing the animal with an adjective! In French, when you describe something using just an adjective (like très petit, meaning "very small"), you use il est or elle est. You would only use c'est if you were identifying it with a noun, like C'est un animal (It is an animal).
Doesn't il usually mean "he"? Why is it translated as "it" here?
In French, every noun is either masculine or feminine, including objects and animals. Because animal is a masculine noun, we use the masculine pronoun il to refer back to it. When talking about things or animals, il translates to "it" in English, rather than "he".
Why is it written as L'animal instead of Le animal?
French doesn't like it when two vowel sounds bump into each other. Because animal starts with a vowel, the e in le (the) is dropped and replaced with an apostrophe. This makes the words flow together smoothly as one sound.
If we were talking about a feminine noun, like a mouse (la souris), would the end of the sentence change?
Yes! French adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. If you were talking about a feminine noun, il would change to elle, and you would add an -e to the adjective to make it feminine: elle est très petite.

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