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L'homme est là.

L'homme est là.
The man is there.
From Lesson 1:Definite articles and elision (le, la, l')·French

Breakdown of L'homme est là.

être
to be
l'homme
the man (m)
là
there

Questions & Answers about L'homme est là.

Why is it l'homme instead of le homme?
In French, when a singular word for "the" (le or la) comes right before a word starting with a vowel, the e or a is dropped and replaced with an apostrophe. This is called elision. Even though homme starts with a consonant, the letter "h" is usually silent in French (called a "mute h"), so the word is treated as if it starts with a vowel.
How do you pronounce l'homme?
Because the "h" is completely silent, the l' connects directly to the "o" sound. It flows together and is pronounced like a single syllable: "lohm".
Why do we use est in this sentence?
est is the form of the verb être (to be) that goes with "he", "she", or "it". Because the subject of the sentence, L'homme (the man), could be replaced by the pronoun il (he), we must use est (is).
Why does là have a little line over the "a"?
That is a grave accent mark, and it completely changes the meaning of the word! Without the accent, la is the feminine word for "the". With the accent, là means "there" (or sometimes "here"). They are pronounced exactly the same way.

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