Questions & Answers about La pau és important.
La is the feminine singular definite article, equivalent to the.
In Catalan, it is very common to use the definite article with abstract nouns when talking about them in a general sense. So La pau means peace as a general concept, not just the peace in a very specific context.
That is why La pau és important sounds natural in Catalan.
Yes, pau is feminine, which is why it takes la.
There is not always a reliable ending that tells you the gender in Catalan. Unlike nouns ending in -a, pau ends in a consonant-like sound, so you mostly just have to learn its gender together with the noun:
- la pau
- la salut
- la llibertat
A good habit is to memorize nouns with their article, not by themselves.
És is the he/she/it is form of the verb ser.
So in this sentence:
- La pau = the subject
- és = is
- important = important
It works just like English is in Peace is important.