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Il a un chat et un chien.

Il a un chat et un chien.
He has a cat and a dog.
FromLesson 1inHardcore French

Breakdown of Il a un chat et un chien.

il
he
le chat
the cat
le chien
the dog
avoir
to have
et
and

Questions & Answers about Il a un chat et un chien.

Why is it un chat and not une chat?
In French, chat (cat) is a masculine noun, so it takes un. If it were feminine, like une souris (a mouse), you would use une. Therefore, un chat is correct for a male cat (or simply the word for "cat" in general).
Is the "t" in chat pronounced?
No, in standard French, you do not pronounce the final "t" in words like chat. It's pronounced roughly like sha.
Why do we use et and not est?
Et means and, while est is the third-person singular form of être (to be), meaning is. In this sentence, Il a un chat et un chien, the correct conjunction to connect the two objects is et (and).
Does il a mean both "he has" and "it has"?
Il can mean he or it (when referring to a masculine noun). Il a literally translates to he has, but in some contexts (such as talking about a masculine noun), it can function as it has. However, in everyday usage, il usually means he.
How do I know it’s un chien and not une chien?
Similar to chat, chien (dog) is also a masculine noun, so it takes the masculine article un. You must memorize the gender of nouns in French or refer to a dictionary to confirm them.
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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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