La raó és important.

The reason is important.

Breakdown of La raó és important.

• ser: to be
• important: important
• la raó: the reason

Questions & Answers about La raó és important.

Why is it la raó and not el raó?

Because raó is a feminine noun in Catalan, so it takes the feminine singular article la.

• la raó = the reason
• el is used with masculine singular nouns

Gender in Catalan does not always match what an English speaker might expect, so it is something you often just have to learn with each noun.

What does raó mean exactly?

Raó usually means reason, but it can cover a few related ideas depending on context, such as:

• reason / explanation
• motive
• rationality / reason in a more abstract sense

It also appears in the common expression tenir raó, which means to be right.

So La raó és important could mean something like Reason is important or The reason is important, depending on context.

Why does raó have an accent?

The accent in raó shows where the stress falls: ra-Ó.

Without going too deep into spelling rules, the accent tells you that the final syllable is stressed. It also helps indicate the vowel quality.

So the word is pronounced approximately:

• rah-OH

not RA-oh.