La facture d’électricité indique le tarif du kilowattheure.

Breakdown of La facture d’électricité indique le tarif du kilowattheure.

indiquer
to show
la facture d’électricité
the electricity bill
le tarif
the rate
le kilowattheure
the kilowatt-hour

Questions & Answers about La facture d’électricité indique le tarif du kilowattheure.

Why does the sentence start with La facture instead of Une facture?

La facture means the bill, while une facture would mean a bill.

French often uses the definite article (le, la, les) when talking about a specific thing or something understood from context. Here, it is probably referring to a particular electricity bill, so la facture is natural.

  • la facture = the bill
  • une facture = a bill
What does d’électricité mean, and why is there an apostrophe?

D’électricité is a shortened form of de électricité, but French does not allow de directly before a vowel in this situation, so it becomes d’.

So:

  • facture d’électricité = electricity bill
  • literally: bill of electricity

This is very common in French:

  • un verre d’eau = a glass of water
  • une salle d’attente = a waiting room
  • un professeur d’anglais = an English teacher
Why is it indique and not something longer like indiquent or indiques?

Because the subject is La facture, which is third person singular.

The verb is indiquer = to indicate. In the present tense:

  • j’indique = I indicate
  • tu indiques = you indicate
  • il / elle indique = he / she / it indicates
  • nous indiquons
  • vous indiquez
  • ils / elles indiquent

Since la facture is singular, French uses indique.

Is facture feminine? How can I tell?

Yes, facture is feminine, which is why it uses la.

In this sentence:

  • la facture → feminine singular noun

There is not always a reliable way to guess noun gender just from the ending, so in many cases you simply have to learn the noun together with its article:

  • la facture
  • le tarif
  • le kilowattheure

Learning the article with the noun is one of the best habits in French.

What is the difference between tarif and prix?

Both can relate to price, but they are not always used in exactly the same way.

  • prix = price in a general sense
  • tarif = rate, fee, charge, pricing level, often in a more official or structured context

In this sentence, le tarif du kilowattheure sounds like the rate for each kilowatt-hour, which fits utility bills very well.

So tarif is a very natural word here.

Why is it du kilowattheure and not de le kilowattheure?

Because de + le contracts to du in French.

So:

That means:

  • le tarif du kilowattheure = the rate of the kilowatt-hour = more naturally in English, the rate for the kilowatt-hour or the kilowatt-hour rate

Other examples:

  • le toit du garage = the roof of the garage
  • la porte du bureau = the office door
Why is there le before tarif?

Because tarif is a countable noun and here it is treated as a specific item: the rate.

French uses articles much more often than English does. Where English might sometimes say something like electricity-bill rates or omit an article in a headline-style phrase, standard French normally keeps the article:

  • La facture indique le tarif...

That sounds complete and natural in French.

What exactly is kilowattheure? Is it one word in French?

Yes, kilowattheure is commonly written as one word in French.

It corresponds to kilowatt-hour in English, often abbreviated as kWh.

So:

  • un kilowattheure = a kilowatt-hour
  • le tarif du kilowattheure = the kilowatt-hour rate

This is a masculine noun, which is why it takes le in its basic form.

How is La facture d’électricité indique le tarif du kilowattheure pronounced?

A careful pronunciation would be approximately:

la fak-tyr de-lek-tree-see-tay an-deek luh ta-reef du kee-lo-va-toor

A few helpful notes:

  • facture: the u sound is the French u, not the English oo
  • électricité: the final -té sounds like tay
  • indique: the ending is a hard k sound
  • tarif: the final f is pronounced
  • kilowattheure: heure sounds roughly like eur, not like English hour

If you want a more natural rhythm, French speakers link the words smoothly: La facture d’électricité indique le tarif du kilowattheure.

Is the word order the same as in English?

Mostly yes. The structure is quite straightforward:

  • La facture d’électricité = the electricity bill
  • indique = indicates
  • le tarif du kilowattheure = the kilowatt-hour rate

So the pattern is:

subject + verb + object

This makes the sentence relatively easy for an English speaker to follow.

Could I also say Le prix du kilowattheure instead of Le tarif du kilowattheure?

Yes, you probably could, and it would still be understandable. However, le tarif du kilowattheure sounds especially appropriate in the context of utility billing, pricing schedules, or official charges.

So:

  • le prix du kilowattheure = the price of the kilowatt-hour
  • le tarif du kilowattheure = the rate charged per kilowatt-hour

Both are possible, but tarif feels a bit more technical or administrative here.

Why doesn’t électricité have la before it in facture d’électricité?

Because after de, French often uses the noun directly when it expresses the type or purpose of something.

So:

  • une facture d’électricité = an electricity bill
  • un fournisseur d’énergie = an energy supplier
  • une panne d’électricité = a power outage

You would not usually say une facture de l’électricité here, because that would suggest a different meaning, more like a bill of the electricity in a less natural, less idiomatic way.

Is this a formal sentence, or can it be used in everyday French too?

It is completely natural and standard French. It has a slightly administrative or informational tone because of the vocabulary:

  • facture
  • indique
  • tarif
  • kilowattheure

That makes sense, since the topic is a utility bill. You could absolutely see or hear this in everyday life, especially in customer service, billing information, or official explanations.

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How does grammatical gender work in French?
Every French noun is either masculine or feminine, and this affects the articles and adjectives used with it. "Le" is used with masculine nouns and "la" with feminine ones. Adjectives also change form to match — for example, "petit" (masc.) becomes "petite" (fem.).

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