Learn Hardcore French: Ce musée est grand; cependant, l’exposition est dans une petite salle. - This museum is big; however, the exhibition is in a small room.

Ce is the masculine singular demonstrative used before a consonant sound: ce musée.
Cet is used before a masculine noun starting with a vowel or mute h: cet hôtel, cet homme.
Cette is the feminine singular form: cette salle, cette exposition.
Plural for both genders is ces: ces musées, ces salles.

Could I say C’est un grand musée instead of Ce musée est grand?

Yes. Both are correct but nuance differs:
- Ce musée est grand describes a characteristic of this specific museum (size, literally).
- C’est un grand musée often sounds more evaluative: a major/important museum (prestige), not just physically big.
Context decides which feels more natural.

What are the genders of musée, exposition, and salle, and how can I tell?

musée is masculine: le musée, ce musée.
exposition is feminine: l’exposition, une exposition (most nouns ending in -tion are feminine).
salle is feminine: la salle, une salle.
Heuristics help (e.g., -tion → feminine), but there are exceptions like musée; check a dictionary when in doubt.

Why is grand after the verb here, but petite comes before salle?

grand is used predicatively after the verb être: Le musée est grand.
petite appears before salle because many common adjectives of Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, and Size (BANGS) precede the noun: une petite salle.
Note: with some adjectives, position can change nuance: un grand homme (a great man) vs un homme grand (a tall man). With musée, un grand musée tends to mean an important/major museum; un musée grand is unusual.

Is the semicolon used correctly in French, and should there be a space before it?

Yes, the semicolon (point-virgule) is fine here: it links two closely related clauses.
French typography normally requires a thin non-breaking space before and a space after: Ce musée est grand ; cependant, ....
In informal digital writing, the preceding space is sometimes omitted, but the spaced form is the standard.

Can I replace cependant with mais?

Yes, but the structure changes:
- With mais (coordinating conjunction), use a comma: Ce musée est grand, mais l’exposition est dans une petite salle.
- cependant is an adverbial connector; it’s common after a period or semicolon, or inserted: Ce musée est grand ; l’exposition est cependant dans une petite salle.
Register: mais is neutral and very common; cependant is a bit more formal/written.

What’s the difference between cependant, pourtant, and toutefois?

All convey contrast (however/yet/nevertheless), but nuance and register differ:
- cependant: neutral-to-formal, very common in writing.
- pourtant: often a bit more emphatic (“yet”), common in speech and writing.
- toutefois: more formal/literary (“nonetheless”).
Placement: all can start a sentence; cependant/toutefois also fit mid-clause: … est, cependant, …. Punctuation (comma) is typical but style-dependent.

Why is it l’exposition and not la exposition?

Elision: le and la become l’ before a vowel or mute h to ease pronunciation: l’exposition, l’histoire.
No elision with an aspirated h: le haricot, la halte (and no liaison).
Same elision happens with other words like je → j’, ne → n’, ce → c’ before vowels.

Why is it une petite salle and not la petite salle?

une is used because the room is unspecified/unknown to the listener—just “a small room.”
Use la if both speakers can identify the specific room: … est dans la petite salle du rez-de-chaussée.

Why use dans here and not en or à?

dans indicates being inside a bounded space: dans une salle, dans une boîte.
en rarely takes an indefinite article like this; it’s used with months, years, materials, languages, and some set phrases: en 2025, en bois, en salle (idiomatic: service en salle).
à generally marks locations (cities, places) or indirect objects, not containment: you’d say à la salle des fêtes (at the community hall) but not à une petite salle to mean “in a small room.”

Could I say se trouve dans une petite salle instead of est dans?

Yes. se trouver means “to be located/found” and sounds slightly more formal or descriptive of location: L’exposition se trouve dans une petite salle.
est dans is simpler and perfectly correct.

How should I pronounce the key words?

Ce: roughly “suh” [sə].
musée: “mü-zay” [my.ze]; final -e accent gives “-zay.”
est: “eh” [ɛ]; the -t is silent here.
grand: nasal “an” sound, final -d silent: [grɑ̃].
cependant: “suh-pahn-dahn” [sə.pɑ̃.dɑ̃].
l’exposition: “lek-spo-zi-syon” [lɛk.spɔ.zi.sjɔ̃] (the x here is [ks]).
dans: nasal “dahn” [dɑ̃].
petite: “puh-TEET” [p(ə).tit].
salle: “sal” [sal].
Liaison note: after a semicolon, you pause; no liaison from grand to cependant. In other contexts you might hear liaison: grand hôtel → [grɑ̃ to.tɛl].

Why does petite agree with salle, and grand with musée?

Adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they describe:
- musée (masc. sing.) → grand.
- salle (fem. sing.) → petite.
Plural would be grands musées, petites salles.

What’s the difference between salle, pièce, and chambre?

salle: a room for a specific/public use or larger function space (salle de classe, salle d’exposition, salle de concert).
pièce: any room in a dwelling (counts rooms in a house/flat), also “a play” (pièce de théâtre).
chambre: specifically a bedroom (chambre d’hôtel, chambre à coucher).

Do I need the comma after cependant?

It’s common and stylistically clean to put a comma after sentence-initial cependant: Cependant, …
Many guides allow it without a following comma; usage varies. Keeping the comma is a safe choice.

Why not use gros instead of grand for “big”?

grand is the default for size/extent and for institutions/places: un grand musée, une grande ville.
gros means thick, fat, bulky, or “big” in quantity/impact: un gros livre (thick), un gros problème (serious), un gros sac (bulky). Un gros musée sounds odd unless you literally mean bulky, which isn’t how we describe museums.
For “important/major,” French also uses important: un musée important (significant).