La France est belle.

to be

Breakdown of La France est belle.

• la France: France
• beau: beautiful

Questions & Answers about La France est belle.

Why do we use La instead of Le?

In French, every noun has a grammatical gender, and France is considered feminine. Therefore, we use the feminine article La rather than the masculine article Le. Many country names in French follow this rule (for instance, La Russie, La Chine, etc.).

Is it mandatory to use an article before a country’s name in French?

Most of the time, yes. When referring to countries in a general sense, French requires a definite article (for example, La France, Le Portugal, Les États-Unis). However, there are exceptions like Israël, which can appear without an article.

Why do we say belle and not beau?

Beau and belle both mean “beautiful,” but beau is masculine, whereas belle is feminine. Since France is feminine, the adjective must agree in gender, so we say belle.

Why does the adjective go after est?

In French, when using the verb être (to be), the descriptive adjective typically follows directly after. So, you get La France est belle. Some adjectives can come before the noun, but in this sentence the descriptive adjective naturally follows the verb.

Can we replace belle with other synonyms?

Absolutely. You could say La France est jolie, La France est magnifique, or La France est splendide to convey different shades of meaning for “beautiful.” Each adjective has its own nuance but still agrees in gender with France.