Learn French: Il gèle souvent dans cette région. - It often freezes in this region.

Gèle comes from the infinitive geler (to freeze). It belongs to a group of stem-changing verbs where the e changes to è when the verb ending is silent. Since the -e ending for il gèle is not pronounced, the first e takes a grave accent so that syllable can be stressed. You will see this exact same pattern in other verbs like acheter (to buy), which becomes il achète.

Does il mean "he" in this sentence?

No, here il simply means "it", just like when we say "it is raining" or "it is snowing" in English. When talking about the weather in French, you almost always use the impersonal pronoun il (for example, il pleut or il fait beau).

Why does souvent come right after the verb instead of before it like in English?

In French, short and common adverbs like souvent (often), toujours (always), and parfois (sometimes) are usually placed immediately after the conjugated verb. You cannot put them between the subject and the verb like we do in English with "It often freezes".

How do we know to use cette instead of ce?