Learn French: Où est le cinéma ? Il est près de la banque. - Where is the cinema? It is near the bank.

The accent mark is very important because it changes the meaning of the word! With the grave accent, où means "where". Without the accent, ou means "or". They sound exactly the same when spoken, so the accent is the only way to tell them apart in writing.

Could I also ask Le cinéma est où ?

Yes! In everyday spoken French, it is very common to just put the question word où at the end of the sentence. Où est le cinéma ? is the standard way to ask, but both are perfectly correct and mean the same thing.

Doesn't il mean "he"? Why does the translation say "It is near the bank"?

In French, all nouns have a gender, even objects and places. Because le cinéma is a masculine word, you must use the masculine pronoun il to talk about it. English uses "it" for places, but French uses il for masculine things and elle for feminine things.

Why do we say près de la banque instead of just près la banque?