El cotxe és allà.

Word by word:

• El = the
• cotxe = car
• és = is
• allà = there / over there

So the structure is very close to English: The car is there.

Because cotxe is a masculine singular noun in Catalan, so it takes the masculine singular definite article el.

• el cotxe = the car
• la casa = the house

As in many Romance languages, nouns in Catalan have grammatical gender, and the article has to match the noun.

Cotxe is usually pronounced roughly like KOT-chuh.

A more precise guide:

• co- sounds like ko
• tx sounds like ch in church
• the final e is a weak vowel, often like uh

So an English speaker can get close with KOH-chuh or KOT-cheh, depending on accent.

In standard Catalan, ll traditionally represents a sound like the lli in million, but the exact pronunciation varies by dialect.

For many learners, a useful approximation is:

• allà ≈ a-LYA or sometimes closer to a-YA, depending on the speaker

So you may hear different real-life pronunciations. That is normal.

The accent in és helps distinguish it from es.

• és = is
• es = a pronoun, often meaning something like oneself / itself / to oneself in certain structures

So the accent is important because it changes the word.

The accent shows which syllable is stressed.

• allà is stressed on the last syllable: a-LLÀ

Without getting too deep into spelling rules, the accent tells you both the correct stress and the correct written form.

Yes, here it is very similar:

• El cotxe = subject
• és = verb
• allà = place adverb

So it follows the same basic pattern as English: The car is there.

Catalan can sometimes move things around for emphasis, but this neutral sentence uses the most straightforward order.

Normally, no. In this sentence you need el.

• El cotxe és allà = The car is there

Leaving out the article would sound unnatural in standard Catalan. Catalan usually uses the definite article where English uses the.

Often yes. Both allà and allí can mean there, though usage can vary by region and by how far away something feels.

Very roughly:

• aquí = here
• allà / allí = there

In everyday speech, some speakers prefer one form more than the other. If you say El cotxe és allà or El cotxe és allí, both can be understood.

The plural would be:

Els cotxes són allà. = The cars are there.

Changes:

• el → els
• cotxe → cotxes
• és → són

So several words have to change to match the plural subject.

No. És is a conjugated form of the verb ser.

• ser = to be
• és = is

So if you look it up in a dictionary, you would search for ser, not és.

Catalan, like Spanish, has two verbs related to to be: ser and estar.

In a simple sentence like El cotxe és allà, Catalan commonly uses ser to state location in this kind of basic identifying sentence.

Learners often expect estar because of Spanish influence or because English only has one to be, but és is the normal form here.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is:

el KOT-cheh ez a-LYA

That is only an approximation, but it is good enough to start with. If you want to sound more natural, pay attention to:

• the ch sound in cotxe
• the stress on -llà
• the clear vowel in és