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Questions & Answers about La vida és bona.
Why is it la vida and not just vida?
In Catalan, abstract nouns often take the definite article, especially in general statements. So la vida means life in a broad, general sense.
That is why La vida és bona sounds natural for Life is good.
Without the article, vida can still appear in some contexts, but la vida is the normal form here.
Why is it és and not està?
Catalan has two main verbs that can translate as to be: ser and estar.
Here, és comes from ser, and it is used because bona describes a general quality of life, not a temporary condition.
So:
- La vida és bona = life is good, in a general or essential sense
A sentence with estar would usually suggest a temporary state or condition, which is not the idea here.
What form of the verb is és?
És is the third person singular present tense of ser.
So it means is.
A few forms of ser in the present are:
- jo soc / sóc = I am
- tu ets = you are
- ell/ella és = he/she is
Since la vida is singular, you use .