Le ski est difficile.

Skiing is difficult.

Breakdown of Le ski est difficile.

• être: to be
• difficile: difficult
• le ski: skiing

Questions & Answers about Le ski est difficile.

Why is it le ski and not just ski?

In French, general statements about activities or sports often use the definite article.

So le ski means skiing or the sport of skiing in a general sense.

• Le ski est difficile. = Skiing is difficult.
• J’aime le ski. = I like skiing.

English often drops the article in these cases, but French usually keeps it.

Does ski here mean the sport, or does it mean a ski?

Here, ski means the sport/activity of skiing.

French can also use un ski to mean a ski (the piece of equipment), but in le ski est difficile, the meaning is clearly the sport.

So:

• le ski = skiing / the sport of skiing
• un ski = a ski

Why is it le? Is ski masculine?

Yes. Ski is a masculine noun in French, so it takes le in the singular:

• le ski

If you were talking about several skis, you would say:

• les skis

Even when le ski means skiing as a sport, it still keeps its grammatical gender, which is masculine.