Learn French: Ce château est vide et abandonné. - This castle is empty and abandoned.

Ce château est vide et abandonné.

This castle is empty and abandoned.

Breakdown of Ce château est vide et abandonné.

Questions & Answers about Ce château est vide et abandonné.

Why is it ce instead of cet or cette?

Ce is the masculine singular word for "this" or "that". We use it here because château is a masculine word. If the word were feminine, like maison (house), we would use cette. We only use cet for masculine words that start with a vowel or a silent h.

Since we are learning about negative pronouns, how would I say "There is nobody in this castle"?

You would say Il n'y a personne dans ce château. Remember that personne (nobody) acts like the second half of a negative sandwich, replacing pas. So, il n'y a pas (there is not) becomes il n'y a personne (there is nobody).

Why does vide end in an -e but abandonné ends in an -é? Are they both masculine?

Yes, both adjectives are masculine to agree with château. The adjective vide (empty) naturally ends in an unaccented -e in its base masculine dictionary form. The adjective abandonné (abandoned) ends in an accented -é. If we were describing a feminine noun, we would leave vide exactly the same, but we would have to add an extra -e to make abandonnée.

Does the circumflex (the little hat) on the "a" in château change how it is pronounced?