La corde est prête, n’est-ce pas ?

Because corde is a feminine noun in French. French nouns have grammatical gender, so corde takes the feminine singular article la.

• la corde = the rope
• le is only used with masculine singular nouns

This is something you usually have to learn along with the noun.

The extra -e shows feminine agreement.

In La corde est prête, the adjective prêt / prête must agree with the noun it describes. Since corde is feminine singular, the adjective becomes prête.

Compare:

• Le sac est prêt. = The bag is ready.
• La corde est prête. = The rope is ready.

So the final -e is there because corde is feminine.

Est is the third-person singular form of the verb être (to be).

The subject is La corde (the rope), which is singular, so French uses est:

• je suis = I am
• tu es = you are
• il/elle/on est = he/she/it is

So:

• La corde est prête = The rope is ready

N’est-ce pas ? is a very common French tag question. It is often equivalent to English endings like:

• isn’t it?
• right?
• is that correct?

So La corde est prête, n’est-ce pas ? means something like:

• The rope is ready, isn’t it?

It asks for confirmation from the listener.

The apostrophe appears because ne becomes n’ before a vowel sound.

Since est begins with e-, French contracts:

• ne est → n’est

This kind of contraction is very common in French:

• je aime → j’aime
• ne a → n’a
• ne est → n’est

Not really in the usual sense. Even though it contains ne and pas, here it functions as a fixed expression used to ask for confirmation.

So in this sentence, n’est-ce pas ? does not make the whole statement negative. The main idea is still:

• La corde est prête = The rope is ready

Then n’est-ce pas ? adds:

• ...isn’t it?

So it works more like a conversational tag than a true negative statement.

Yes. La corde est prête ? is also correct, especially in speech.

The difference is in tone:

• La corde est prête ? = Is the rope ready?
• La corde est prête, n’est-ce pas ? = The rope is ready, isn’t it?

The second one suggests the speaker already expects the answer to be yes and is just checking.

It is usually pronounced approximately like:

nayss-pah

A more detailed breakdown:

• n’est sounds roughly like nay
• ce sounds like suh
• pas sounds like pah

In natural speech, it often flows together smoothly:

• n’est-ce pas → nay-suh-pah or even more compressed depending on the speaker

The final s in pas is normally silent.

Usually, no. In est, the final -t is normally silent.

So:

• est sounds roughly like eh in isolation

But in n’est-ce pas, the pronunciation is shaped by the whole expression, and learners often hear it as part of n’est rather than as a separately pronounced t.

So for practical purposes:

• La corde est prête → the t in est is silent
• n’est-ce pas → learn it as one expression

Yes. It is very versatile and can be added to many statements when you want confirmation.

Examples:

• Il est ici, n’est-ce pas ? = He is here, isn’t he?
• Tu comprends, n’est-ce pas ? = You understand, right?
• C’est une bonne idée, n’est-ce pas ? = It’s a good idea, isn’t it?

It is a useful all-purpose tag question, though in everyday casual speech French speakers may also use other expressions depending on context and tone.

English changes its tag question depending on the verb and subject:

• It’s ready, isn’t it?
• You know, don’t you?
• He came, didn’t he?

French often avoids that kind of change by using the fixed expression n’est-ce pas ?, which works in many situations.

That makes it easier in one way: you do not have to build a different tag each time. You can often just add n’est-ce pas ? to ask for confirmation.

Usually, no. In most standard pronunciation, prêt and prête are pronounced the same way.

So:

• prêt
• prête

Both sound roughly like preh

The difference is mainly in spelling, which shows grammatical agreement.

Yes, depending on context. Corde can mean rope, string, or cord in different situations.

For example:

• a thick rope
• a cord
• a string on an object or instrument, depending on context

So even though the basic meaning is clear, the exact English translation can vary with the situation.