Learn French: Le musée de la capitale est gratuit.

Le musée de la capitale est gratuit.

The capital's museum is free.

Breakdown of Le musée de la capitale est gratuit.

Questions & Answers about Le musée de la capitale est gratuit.

Why is it le musée when it ends in -ée?

Most French nouns ending in -ée are feminine (like l'idée or la journée). However, musée is a common exception and is always masculine. Another common masculine exception you will see is le lycée (the high school).

Can I use libre instead of gratuit to say the museum is free?

No. In French, gratuit specifically means "free of charge" (it does not cost money). Libre means "free" in the sense of freedom or availability, like a free seat (une place libre) or free time (le temps libre).

Is capitale related to financial capital or just the city?

Here, la capitale (feminine) refers exclusively to the capital city. If you want to talk about financial capital (money or assets), you have to use the masculine form, le capital.

Why does the French sentence use de la instead of a possessive apostrophe-s?

French does not have an equivalent to the English possessive "'s". To say "the capital's museum," you always have to rephrase it using de (of) to mean "the museum of the capital," which gives us le musée de la capitale.