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C'est une maison, et ce sont des magasins.

C'est une maison, et ce sont des magasins.
It is a house, and these are stores.
From Lesson 7:Plural nouns and indefinite articles (des... -s)·French

Questions & Answers about C'est une maison, et ce sont des magasins.

Why is there a des before magasins? The English translation doesn't say "some stores".
In French, nouns almost always need a little word in front of them. While in English we can just say "stores", French uses des as the plural of un or une. You can think of it as "some", but it is required even when we wouldn't use "some" in English.
How do you pronounce the -s at the end of magasins?
You don't! The -s used to make regular nouns plural is silent in French. When speaking, the only way to hear that the word is plural is by listening for the plural article des before it.
Why does the sentence use ce sont instead of c'est for the second part?
C'est means "it is" or "this is" and is only used for singular things, like une maison (a house). When you are talking about multiple things, like des magasins (stores), you must use the plural version: ce sont ("these are" or "they are").
Does magasins mean "magazines" like the ones you read?
No, this is a classic "false friend"! Un magasin means a store or a shop. If you want to talk about a publication you read, the French word is actually un magazine.

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