Le chat est sous la table.

to be

Breakdown of Le chat est sous la table.

• le chat: the cat
• la table: the table
• sous: under

Questions & Answers about Le chat est sous la table.

When do I use le/la (definite article) versus un/une (indefinite article) in this sentence?

We use le before chat and la before table because we’re talking about a specific cat and a specific table—things already known or identified in the context. If you wanted to introduce “a cat” and “a table” for the first time, you would say un chat and une table.

How can I know the gender of chat and table?

In French every noun is either masculine or feminine. chat is masculine, table is feminine. There are some patterns (nouns ending in -e are often feminine), but many exceptions exist. The safest approach is to learn each noun with its article or check a dictionary.

What form of the verb être is est?

est is the third person singular present tense of être (to be). The full present conjugation is:
je suis
tu es
il/elle/on est
nous sommes
vous êtes
ils/elles sont
Here le chat is a third-person singular subject (il), so we use est.

Why is the simple present (est) used rather than a continuous form like in English?