El problema és greu.

The problem is serious.

Breakdown of El problema és greu.

• ser: to be
• el problema: the problem
• greu: serious; severe

Questions & Answers about El problema és greu.

Why is it el problema if problema ends in -a?

Because problema is a masculine noun in Catalan: el problema.

This is one of those nouns that can look misleading to an English speaker, because many Catalan nouns ending in -a are feminine, but not all of them are. A number of learned words of Greek origin are masculine, including problema.

So:

• el problema
• un problema
• aquest problema

Not la problema in standard Catalan.

What is the job of el here?

El is the definite article, meaning the.

So el problema = the problem.

Catalan articles change for gender and number:

• el = the (masculine singular)
• la = the (feminine singular)
• els = the (masculine plural)
• les = the (feminine plural)

In this sentence, el agrees with problema, which is masculine singular.

Why is there an accent in és?