Breakdown of L'entrevista de feina és genial.
Questions & Answers about L'entrevista de feina és genial.
Why does l'entrevista start with l' instead of la?
Because entrevista is a feminine singular noun, so its normal article is la. But in Catalan, la becomes l' before a vowel sound:
- la entrevista → l'entrevista
This is called elision. It works a lot like French apostrophes in forms such as l'école.
So:
- la feina
- l'entrevista
What exactly does de feina mean here?
De feina literally means of work or related to work, but in this sentence it functions naturally as job in English.
So entrevista de feina means:
- job interview
- literally, interview of work / interview for work
Catalan often uses noun + de + noun where English prefers a compound noun.
Compare:
- entrevista de feina = job interview
- sabates de muntanya = mountain shoes / hiking boots
- taula de fusta = wooden table or table made of wood
Why is it és with an accent?
És is the 3rd person singular form of the verb ser:
- jo soc
- tu ets
- ell/ella és
It means is.
The accent matters because es without an accent is a different word, often a reflexive pronoun, like himself/herself/itself or part of a pronominal verb.
So:
- és = is
- es = pronoun
The accent helps distinguish them in writing.
Why is genial not changing to match the feminine noun entrevista?
Because some Catalan adjectives have the same form for masculine and feminine. Genial is one of them.
So you get:
- un dia genial
- una entrevista genial
No change is needed.
Only the plural changes:
- genial → singular
- genials → plural
So:
- L'entrevista és genial
- Les entrevistes són genials
How do you pronounce L'entrevista de feina és genial?
A simple learner-friendly pronunciation guide would be:
len-treh-BEES-tuh duh FAY-nyuh ez juh-nee-AL
A few useful notes:
- l'entrevista: the l' links directly to the next word
- v in many Catalan varieties sounds very close to b
- feina contains ei, pronounced roughly like ay
- ny in feina sounds like the ny in canyon
- és sounds like ess with a clear vowel
- the final stress in genial falls on the last syllable: ge-ni-AL
Is feina the same as treball?
They are related, but they are not always used in exactly the same way.
- feina often means job, work, or task
- treball often means work in a broader sense, or piece of work
In the expression entrevista de feina, feina is the normal and very natural choice for job interview.
You may also hear:
- entrevista de treball
but entrevista de feina is usually the more everyday, idiomatic way to say it.
Could I also say L'entrevista laboral és genial?
Yes, you could. Laboral means work-related or employment-related, so entrevista laboral is understandable and correct.
However, entrevista de feina is often more natural in everyday speech.
Roughly speaking:
- entrevista de feina = more common and conversational
- entrevista laboral = a bit more formal or technical
Why is there a definite article at the beginning? Why not just Entrevista de feina és genial?
Because Catalan usually needs an article here when talking about a specific thing.
- L'entrevista de feina és genial = The job interview is great
Without the article, the sentence would sound incomplete or unnatural in normal Catalan.
Catalan uses articles quite regularly, often more than English does in some contexts.
What is the basic sentence structure here?
The structure is:
- L'entrevista de feina = subject
- és = verb
- genial = adjective / subject complement
So it is basically:
Subject + verb + adjective
This is very similar to English:
- The job interview
- is
- great
- is
That makes this sentence a nice beginner-friendly example, because the word order is straightforward.
Is entrevista masculine or feminine, and how can I tell?
Entrevista is feminine.
That is why it takes:
- la entrevista
- l'entrevista before a vowel
One clue is the ending -a, which often signals a feminine noun in Catalan, though not always.
You can see the feminine article clearly in forms like:
- una entrevista
- la primera entrevista
So in this sentence, the noun is feminine singular.
Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor
Start learning CatalanMaster Catalan — from L'entrevista de feina és genial to fluency
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
- ✓Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
- ✓Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
- ✓ AI tutor to answer your grammar questions