La cantant és molt coneguda a la ciutat.

Cantant is the normal Catalan word for singer. It comes from the verb cantar (to sing) and is used as a noun.

A useful thing to know is that cantant often has the same form for masculine and feminine:

• el cantant = the male singer
• la cantant = the female singer

So in your sentence, la tells you the singer is feminine.
A form like cantora exists much less commonly and is not the usual everyday choice here.

Yes, cantant can be either:

1. a noun: singer
2. a gerund-like form: singing

So context matters.

Examples:

• La cantant és famosa. = The singer is famous.
• Està cantant. = She is singing.

In your sentence, la cantant is clearly a noun because it has the article la and acts as the subject of the sentence.

Catalan, like Spanish, often distinguishes between ser and estar.

• és comes from ser
• està comes from estar

Here, és molt coneguda means is very well-known, describing a more general or lasting characteristic, not a temporary condition. So ser is the natural choice.

• La cantant és molt coneguda. = She is a well-known singer / The singer is very well-known.

If you used està here, it would sound unusual in standard usage for this meaning.

Because it agrees with la cantant, which is feminine singular.

In Catalan, adjectives and past participle-based adjectives often agree in gender and number with the noun they describe:

• el cantant és molt conegut = the male singer is very well-known
• la cantant és molt coneguda = the female singer is very well-known
• els cantants són molt coneguts
• les cantants són molt conegudes

So coneguda matches the feminine noun phrase la cantant.

Here coneguda means known or, more naturally in English, well-known / famous depending on context.

It comes from the verb conèixer (to know, in the sense of being familiar with someone or something).

So:

• conegut / coneguda = known, familiar, well-known

Because the sentence also has molt (very), molt coneguda is best understood as very well-known.

Because molt is modifying the adjective coneguda.

• molt = very
• coneguda = known / well-known

So:

• molt coneguda = very well-known

This works much like English very + adjective.

Examples:

• molt famosa = very famous
• molt alta = very tall
• molt coneguda = very well-known

Here a la ciutat means in the city or within the city.

The preposition a is very common in Catalan for places, especially with movement, destination, and many location expressions. In everyday Catalan, a la ciutat is perfectly natural.

So:

• a la ciutat = in the city / in town

Depending on context, the sentence can suggest:

• she is well-known within that city
• people in the city know her well

Sometimes learners see both a and en with places and wonder which one to use.

In modern Catalan, a la ciutat is very common and natural here.
You may also encounter en in some contexts or varieties, but for this sentence, a la ciutat is the safest and most idiomatic choice.

So if you are learning standard, everyday Catalan, use:

• a la ciutat

Because Catalan usually uses the definite article with common nouns when you mean a specific place:

• la ciutat = the city
• el poble = the town/village
• la platja = the beach

So a la ciutat literally means in the city.

If the sentence said en ciutat or just a ciutat, that would generally not be correct in normal Catalan for this meaning.

The normal, neutral order is:

• La cantant (subject)
• és (verb)
• molt coneguda (description)
• a la ciutat (place/context)

So the given sentence sounds natural and standard.

Catalan can change word order for emphasis, but that usually changes the focus:

• A la ciutat, la cantant és molt coneguda.
  This puts more emphasis on in the city.

For a learner, the original order is the best model.

The accent in és is important.

• és = is
• es = oneself / himself / herself / itself, etc. (a pronoun)

So the accent distinguishes two different words.

In pronunciation, és has a clear stressed vowel. The accent mark shows that the word is stressed and helps distinguish it from es.

This is very common in Catalan: accents often help show pronunciation and also prevent confusion between words.

Only the article and the agreeing adjective would change:

• El cantant és molt conegut a la ciutat.

Changes:

• la → el
• coneguda → conegut

The noun cantant itself stays the same in form here.

Yes. The exact English translation depends on context.

• a la ciutat can mean literally in the city
• in natural English, it might also be rendered as around town, locally, or in the city

So the Catalan sentence is compatible with several natural English phrasings, even though the core meaning stays the same.