La corda és llarga.

Because corda is a feminine singular noun in Catalan, so it takes the feminine singular definite article la.

• la corda = the rope
• el llibre = the book

Like other Romance languages, Catalan nouns have grammatical gender, and the article has to match that gender.

In this case, you mainly learn it together with the noun: la corda.

There are some patterns that can help, and nouns ending in -a are often feminine, but that is not a perfect rule. The safest habit is to memorize new nouns with their article:

• la corda
• la casa
• el gos
• el problema (an exception to the -a = feminine tendency)

So for learners, it is best to treat la corda as one unit when you first learn it.

Catalan has two verbs that can both translate as to be: ser and estar.

Here, és is from ser, and it is used because llarga describes a basic, inherent characteristic of the rope. Its length is being stated as a general quality, not a temporary condition.

• La corda és llarga. = The rope is long.

Using estar here would usually sound unnatural in standard Catalan for this meaning. A learner can usually think:

• ser = identity, essential traits, general description
• estar = location or temporary state

The accent in és helps distinguish it from es.

• és = is
• es = a reflexive/pronominal word, often like oneself, to oneself, or part of reflexive verbs

Examples:

• És alt. = He is tall.
• Es renta. = He washes himself.

So the accent is important because it marks a different word.

És is the third-person singular present tense of ser.

That means it is used with:

• he/she/it is
• singular nouns, like la corda

Some forms of ser in the present are:

• soc = I am
• ets = you are
• és = he/she/it is
• som = we are
• sou = you all are
• són = they are

So La corda és... uses és because la corda is singular.

Because adjectives in Catalan usually agree with the noun in gender and number.

Since corda is feminine singular, the adjective must also be feminine singular:

• masculine singular: llarg
• feminine singular: llarga
• masculine plural: llargs
• feminine plural: llargues

So:

• el fil és llarg
• la corda és llarga

This is a very common feature in Catalan.

Yes, usually. In a sentence like this, the adjective comes after the verb, and it is perfectly normal:

• La corda és llarga.

More generally, Catalan often places descriptive adjectives after the noun:

• una corda llarga = a long rope

Adjectives can sometimes come before the noun, but that often changes the tone or emphasis. For basic learning, it is safest to expect descriptive adjectives to come after the noun.

The pronunciation of ll varies somewhat by dialect.

Traditionally, ll is pronounced like a palatal sound similar to the lli sound in English million, roughly ly.

So llarga is often pronounced approximately like:

• LYAR-gə in Central Catalan-style pronunciation

However, in some varieties, especially in everyday speech, ll may sound closer to y.

So if you hear something like yarga, that can also reflect real Catalan pronunciation depending on the speaker.

In normal Catalan, you do need the article here:

• La corda és llarga.

Leaving it out would sound ungrammatical in this sentence. Catalan uses definite articles more regularly than English in many contexts, so English speakers often need to get used to that.

It would become:

• Les cordes són llargues.

Here everything changes to plural:

• la → les
• corda → cordes
• és → són
• llarga → llargues

This is a good example of how articles, verbs, and adjectives all work together in Catalan.