El cotxe és allà.

to be

Breakdown of El cotxe és allà.

• allà: there
• el cotxe: the car

Questions & Answers about El cotxe és allà.

What does each word in El cotxe és allà mean?

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.

Why is it el and not la?

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.

How do you pronounce cotxe?

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.