Le cochon mange.

In French, you usually need an article before a singular countable noun. So cochon by itself often sounds incomplete in a basic sentence.

• le cochon = the pig
• un cochon = a pig

French uses articles more often than English does, so this is a very common pattern.

Cochon is a masculine noun, so it takes the masculine singular definite article le.

• le = the for masculine singular nouns
• la = the for feminine singular nouns
• l’ = used before a vowel sound
• les = the for plural nouns

There is no perfect rule that always tells you a noun’s gender, so in many cases you simply learn the noun together with its article: le cochon.

Mange is the third-person singular form of the verb manger, which means to eat.

So:

• je mange = I eat
• tu manges = you eat
• il mange = he eats
• elle mange = she eats

In Le cochon mange, mange means eats.

Manger is the infinitive, meaning to eat.
In a normal sentence, French usually uses a conjugated verb, not the infinitive.

Because the subject is le cochon = the pig, which is third-person singular, the verb must match it:

• infinitive: manger = to eat
• conjugated form: mange = eats

So Le cochon mange literally follows the pattern The pig eats.

It can mean either one, depending on context.

French often uses the simple present where English might use either:

• The pig eats
• The pig is eating

If you specifically want to emphasize is eating right now, French can also use:

• Le cochon est en train de manger.

But in everyday French, Le cochon mange is very normal.

A helpful rough pronunciation is:

• cochon ≈ ko-SHON
  with a nasal ending

A few important points:

• The ch in French is usually like sh in English.
• The final -on is a nasal sound. You do not pronounce a strong English n at the end.
• So it is not co-chon with an English ch, and not co-shon-n.

A rough IPA version is /kɔ.ʃɔ̃/.

A rough guide is:

luh ko-SHON mahnzh

More accurately:

• Le is often pronounced something like luh or a very light lə
• cochon = /kɔ.ʃɔ̃/
• mange = /mɑ̃ʒ/

A few pronunciation notes:

• The g in mange sounds like the s in measure
• The -an in mange is nasal
• The final e in mange is silent

No. In mange, the final e is silent.

So mange is pronounced roughly like mahnzh, not mahn-zhuh.

This final e is often there for spelling reasons and grammar, but it is frequently not pronounced in standard French speech.

This sentence uses the standard French word order:

• Subject + Verb

So:

• Le cochon = subject
• mange = verb

That is the same basic order as English:

• The pig eats

French often follows this straightforward pattern in simple statements.

Yes. That would mean A pig eats or A pig is eating.

The difference is:

• Le cochon mange = The pig eats
• Un cochon mange = A pig eats

So the article changes whether you mean a specific pig or an unspecified pig.

Both words relate to pig, but they are not used in exactly the same way.

• cochon usually means the animal: pig
• porc often refers more to pork or pig meat, though it can sometimes refer to the animal in certain contexts

So for a simple sentence about the animal doing something, Le cochon mange is the natural choice.

Both the article and the verb form would change.

• Le cochon mange. = The pig eats.
• Les cochons mangent. = The pigs eat.

Changes:

• le becomes les
• cochon becomes cochons
• mange becomes mangent

In pronunciation, mangent and mange sound the same in standard French, even though they are spelled differently.

No, not in a normal sentence like this. French usually requires an explicit subject.

So you say:

• Le cochon mange.

You do not normally just say:

• Mange.

unless it is a command, where Mange ! would mean Eat!

That is different from a regular statement.