Aquest examen no és fàcil.

Because examen is a masculine singular noun in Catalan, so the demonstrative has to match it.

The forms are:

• aquest = this (masculine singular)
• aquesta = this (feminine singular)
• aquests = these (masculine plural)
• aquestes = these (feminine plural)

So:

• aquest examen = this exam
• aquesta prova = this test

Catalan usually makes words in the sentence agree in gender and number.

In Catalan, nouns have grammatical gender, and examen is masculine: el examen / l’examen.

This does not mean the thing itself is “male”; it is just a grammatical category. English speakers often have to memorize noun gender because it is not always predictable from meaning.

A useful clue here is that many nouns ending in -en are masculine, though you should still learn nouns together with their article when possible.

Because aquest already works as a determiner, like this in English.

In English, you say:

• this exam not
• the this exam

Catalan works the same way:

• aquest examen not
• el aquest examen

So the demonstrative replaces the article here.

That is the normal way to make a sentence negative in Catalan: no goes before the verb.

So:

• és fàcil = it is easy
• no és fàcil = it is not easy

This is very similar to Spanish and simpler than English in one way, because you usually just place no before the verb.

És is the 3rd person singular form of the verb ser: is.

The accent is important because it distinguishes és from es:

• és = is
• es = a pronoun, often like oneself / each other / to oneself, depending on context

So in this sentence, the accent shows that it is the verb:

• Aquest examen no és fàcil.

The accent in fàcil shows where the stress falls: FA-cil.

Catalan uses written accents both to mark stress and, sometimes, vowel quality. For a learner, the practical point is:

• fàcil is stressed on the first syllable

This helps you pronounce it correctly and recognize it in speech.

It does not change for gender in the singular:

• Aquest examen és fàcil.
• Aquesta pregunta és fàcil.

In both cases, it stays fàcil.

But in the plural, it changes to fàcils:

• Aquests exàmens són fàcils.
• Aquestes preguntes són fàcils.

So the pattern is:

• singular: fàcil
• plural: fàcils

This is the normal Catalan word order:

demonstrative + noun + no + verb + adjective

So:

• Aquest examen = subject
• no és = is not
• fàcil = adjective describing the subject

It is very close to English word order in this case:

• This exam is not easy.

That makes this sentence quite straightforward for English speakers.

A careful learner-friendly pronunciation would be roughly:

ah-KESHT ehg-ZA-men no EZ FA-sil

A few helpful notes:

• aquest often ends with a sound like -sht
• examen is usually stressed on -xa-
• és sounds like ez
• fàcil is stressed on the first syllable

Depending on dialect, the exact vowel sounds may vary, but that approximation is a good start.

Yes. That would mean This exam is difficult.

The difference is:

• no és fàcil = not easy
• és difícil = difficult

These are often similar in meaning, but not always exactly identical in tone. Sometimes not easy sounds a bit softer or less direct than difficult.

So Catalan, like English, lets you choose between a negative expression and a stronger positive opposite.

The infinitive is ser, meaning to be.

Here is the present tense:

• jo sóc = I am
• tu ets = you are
• ell / ella és = he / she is
• nosaltres som = we are
• vosaltres sou = you all are
• ells / elles són = they are

So in Aquest examen no és fàcil, és agrees with the singular subject Aquest examen.

Yes, exactly.

Everything changes to match the plural noun:

• aquest → aquests
• examen → exàmens
• és → són
• fàcil → fàcils

So:

• Aquest examen no és fàcil.
• Aquests exàmens no són fàcils.

This is a very good example of agreement in Catalan.