Learn French: Le basket est un sport d'équipe.

Le basket est un sport d'équipe.

Basketball is a team sport.

Breakdown of Le basket est un sport d'équipe.

the sport / the exercise

le basket

basketball

Questions & Answers about Le basket est un sport d'équipe.

Why do we say Le basket instead of just Basket?

In French, you must use a definite article (le, la, les) when talking about general categories, including sports, games, and concepts. In English, we just say "Basketball is...", but in French, it has to be Le basket est....

Why is it d'équipe and not de l'équipe?

When de is used to link a noun that describes another noun, you usually drop the article. Here, équipe just describes the type of sport. If you said de l'équipe, it would mean "the sport of the team" (referring to a specific team) rather than the general category "team sport".

Why doesn't French just put the words together like "équipe sport"?

French doesn't let you stack nouns side-by-side to describe things the way English does with "team sport". Instead, you have to use a linking word like de. The main noun comes first (sport), followed by de, and then the describing noun (équipe).

Is basket the normal way to say basketball in French?

Yes! French speakers almost always shorten le basketball to just le basket in everyday conversation. You will see this with a few other borrowed English sports too, like le foot for football (soccer).