Questions & Answers about La sort és important.
Catalan often uses the definite article with abstract nouns when talking about something in a general sense. So La sort means luck as a general concept.
That is different from English, which often leaves out the article in sentences like Luck is important.
So:
- La sort és important = Luck is important
- literally, it looks like The luck is important, but that is not how it is understood in English
Using the article here is completely normal in Catalan.
The accent in és is important because it distinguishes this word from es.
- és = is (third-person singular of ser, to be)
- es = a pronoun used in reflexive/passive constructions
So in this sentence:
- La sort és important = Luck is important
The accent helps you recognize that és is the verb.
It also marks the stressed vowel pronunciation.