Learn French: Le réglage de la basse coûte cher. - The adjustment of the bass is expensive.

Le réglage de la basse coûte cher.

The adjustment of the bass is expensive.

Breakdown of Le réglage de la basse coûte cher.

of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)

Questions & Answers about Le réglage de la basse coûte cher.

Why do we use coûte cher instead of est cher?

In French, it is very common to use the verb coûter (to cost) with the adverbial adjective cher to express that something is expensive. You could say Le réglage est cher, but coûte cher sounds much more natural when talking about a service or the price of an item.

Since le réglage is masculine singular, cher is too. But what if the subject were feminine or plural, like les guitares?

The word cher would stay exactly the same! In the expression coûter cher, cher is an adjective acting as an adverb to modify the verb coûter. Adverbs never change form to agree with the subject. So, you would say Ces guitares coûtent cher.

Does réglage usually mean adjustment?

Yes, it comes from the verb régler (to adjust, set, or regulate). In a musical context like this, le réglage refers to a setup (adjusting the neck, string height, and intonation of the instrument). It can also refer to tweaking settings on a device.

How do we know basse refers to the instrument and not the adjective low?

The article la right before it tells us it is functioning as a noun here. As a feminine noun, la basse means the bass guitar or the bass frequencies in music. If it were an adjective, basse would mean low (the feminine form of bas).