El gimnàs és aquí.

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

A quick article summary:

• el = masculine singular
• la = feminine singular
• els = masculine plural
• les = feminine plural

So:

• el gimnàs = the gym

Like in many languages, noun gender in Catalan is something you usually have to learn along with the noun.

A good learner-friendly approximation is zhi-MNAS or, for some accents, jee-MNAS.

A few helpful points:

• The g before i is a soft sound, not a hard g like in go.
• The stress falls on the last syllable: gim-NÀS.
• The final s is pronounced.

The whole sentence El gimnàs és aquí is roughly: el zhi-MNAS es a-KEE

They help with stress and, in some cases, with distinguishing words.

• gimnàs: the accent shows that the stress is on the last syllable
• aquí: the accent also shows final stress
• és: this accent helps distinguish it from es, which is a different word

So:

• és = is
• es = a reflexive/pronominal form, not the verb is

Accent marks matter in Catalan, both for pronunciation and meaning.

És is the form of ser for he/she/it is.

In Catalan, ser is commonly used for the location of buildings, places, and fixed things. Since a gym is a place with a fixed location, El gimnàs és aquí is the natural choice.

For example:

• La biblioteca és al centre. = The library is in the center.
• El banc és davant del mercat. = The bank is in front of the market.

By contrast, estar is more often used for:

• a person’s temporary location
• states or conditions

For example:

• La Maria està aquí. = Maria is here.

So for a building or place, és aquí is the basic form learners should expect.

Because Hi ha un gimnàs aquí and El gimnàs és aquí do not mean exactly the same thing.

• Hi ha un gimnàs aquí = There is a gym here
• El gimnàs és aquí = The gym is here

The difference is:

• hi ha introduces the existence of something
• és tells you the location of a specific, already identified thing

So:

• If you are telling someone that a gym exists in this place, use Hi ha un gimnàs aquí.
• If you are pointing out where the gym is, use El gimnàs és aquí.

No, not in normal standard Catalan.

If you use the noun gimnàs as a specific countable noun, it normally needs an article:

• El gimnàs és aquí.

Without the article, Gimnàs és aquí sounds ungrammatical.

If the context is already clear, you can shorten the whole sentence instead:

• És aquí. = It’s here.

But that is different from dropping only the article.

Yes, if the context already makes it clear what it refers to.

Catalan often leaves the subject understood when it is obvious from context. So if everyone already knows you are talking about the gym, És aquí is perfectly natural.

For example:

• On és el gimnàs?
• És aquí.

That works just like English It’s here.

The most neutral word order here is:

El gimnàs és aquí.

You can move things around in Catalan for emphasis, but not every rearrangement sounds equally natural.

For example:

• Aquí hi ha el gimnàs. = Here is the gym / There is the gym here
• Aquí és on hi ha el gimnàs. = This is where the gym is

A simple Aquí és el gimnàs is much less natural as a basic sentence for most learners.

So if you want the straightforward form, stick with: El gimnàs és aquí.

It is the most common and safest choice for learners.

In some varieties of Catalan, especially Valencian, you may also hear ací with the same meaning:

• El gimnàs és aquí.
• El gimnàs és ací.

Both can mean The gym is here, but aquí is the form you will see most often in general Catalan learning materials.

Here is the breakdown:

• El = definite article
• gimnàs = noun
• és = verb (ser, 3rd person singular present)
• aquí = adverb of place

So the structure is:

article + noun + verb + adverb

That is a very common and straightforward Catalan sentence pattern.