Le chat est noir.

The cat is black.

Breakdown of Le chat est noir.

• être: to be
• le chat: the cat
• noir: black

Questions & Answers about Le chat est noir.

Why is it Le chat and not La chat?

In French, chat (cat) is usually a masculine noun, so you use the masculine article Le instead of La, which is used for feminine nouns. There is a feminine form of the word cat, la chatte, but this is less common unless you explicitly want to indicate a female cat.

Why does noir end in -r here, while I sometimes see noire with an -e at the end?

French adjectives often change their endings based on the gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) of the noun they modify. Noir is the masculine singular form. If you’re describing a feminine noun (e.g., la chatte), you would normally say noire.

Is there a difference in pronunciation between chat and chats (plural)?

They’re pronounced the same way. Both chat (singular) and chats (plural) end with the same voiced a sound. The final -s in chats is silent in French.

How do I pronounce Le chat est noir naturally?

You can break it down into sounds: • Le: say it like luh (short vowel sound).
• chat: sounds a bit like shah.
• est: say it quickly as eh.
• noir: say the oi roughly like wah, giving you nwahr.
When you say the whole sentence together, make it flow as one phrase: luh-shah-eh-nwahr.

Why is est spelled e-s-t but pronounced like eh?

In French, the verb être (to be) has est as its third-person singular form (he/she/it is). The t at the end is silent, leaving the pronunciation as eh. This is a common pattern in French where final consonants are often not pronounced.