Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Catalan grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Això és cafè.
What does això mean exactly? Is it this or it?
In Això és cafè, això usually means this or this thing.
It is a demonstrative pronoun, used when you point to or identify something without naming it directly. So if you are holding up a cup or pointing at a substance, això = this.
It is not usually the same as English it. Catalan has other ways to express it, depending on context.
How do you pronounce això?
A common pronunciation is approximately:
eye-SHO
More carefully, in standard Central Catalan, it is roughly /əjˈʃɔ/.
A few useful points:
- ai sounds a bit like English eye
- x here sounds like sh
- the final ò is an open o sound
So això does not sound like the Spanish eso.
Why is it és and not es?
És with an accent is the 3rd person singular of the verb ser: is.
So:
- és = is
Without the accent, is a different word, often a reflexive or pronominal particle, like , depending on context.