Learn Hardcore French: Ce match est important pour Paul.

ceci, cela, ça are pronouns: they stand alone and do not come before a noun.
- Ceci = this (rather formal, not very common in speech)
- Cela = that (formal/neutral)
- Ça = this/that (informal, very common in speech)

You cannot say *Ceci match or *Cela match; you must say ce match.

Why is it ce match and not cet match or cette match?

The choice of ce / cet / cette depends on the gender of the noun and the initial sound of the word.

match is a masculine noun.
It also begins with a consonant sound /m/.

For masculine singular nouns:

Use ce before a consonant sound: ce match, ce livre, ce garçon
Use cet before a vowel sound or mute h: cet homme, cet arbre, cet hôtel

For feminine singular nouns:

Use cette: cette maison, cette fille

So:

ce match ✅ (masculine, consonant)
cet match ❌ (only for vowel/mute h)
cette match ❌ (would require a feminine noun)

What gender is match in French, and does it always stay the same?

Match (in the sports sense) is masculine in French: un match, le match.

Singular: un match
Plural: des matchs or des matches (both seen; des matchs is more common in modern usage)

The gender does not change, even if in English match is gender-neutral. In French it’s always masculine.

That’s why the sentence uses:

ce match (masculine demonstrative)
important (masculine singular form of the adjective)

Why is important after est? Could I say something like Ce important match est pour Paul?

In Ce match est important pour Paul, the structure is:

Ce match (subject)
est (verb to be)
important (adjective describing the subject)

So it literally means: This match is important for Paul.

You cannot say *Ce important match est pour Paul in this context. That would sound wrong for two reasons:

You’re changing the structure from “X is important” to “important X”, which doesn’t match the intended meaning.
Although some adjectives can come before the noun (e.g. un grand match), important usually comes after the noun when used attributively:
- un match important = an important match
- Ce match est important = This match is important

So the natural options are:

Ce match est important pour Paul.
Ce match important compte beaucoup pour Paul. (slightly different nuance)

Does important have to agree with match? How would the sentence change in plural or feminine?

Yes, adjectives in French must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

In the original sentence:

match = masculine singular
important = masculine singular form

If you change the noun, the adjective changes too:

Plural, still masculine:
- Ces matchs sont importants pour Paul.
  → These matches are important for Paul.
Singular, feminine noun (e.g. rencontre = match/meeting, feminine):
- Cette rencontre est importante pour Paul.
Plural, feminine:
- Ces rencontres sont importantes pour Paul.

So:

Masculine singular: important
Feminine singular: importante
Masculine plural: importants
Feminine plural: importantes

Why is it pour Paul and not à Paul?

In this sentence, pour expresses the idea of “from Paul’s point of view / for Paul personally / for Paul’s interests or feelings.”

Ce match est important pour Paul.
→ This match is important for Paul (it matters to him; it has significance for him).

À is not used in this meaning. You can’t say *Ce match est important à Paul to mean the same thing; that’s ungrammatical in modern French.

Typical patterns:

important pour quelqu’un:
- C’est important pour moi / toi / lui / elle / nous / vous / eux.
intéressant pour quelqu’un
utile pour quelqu’un

So when you mean “it is important to someone / for someone personally”, you use pour in French.

Can I move pour Paul to another place in the sentence?

Yes, French word order is flexible for emphasis. All of these are correct, but the nuance changes slightly:

Ce match est important pour Paul.
→ Neutral, most standard order.
Pour Paul, ce match est important.
→ Emphasizes Paul’s point of view: For Paul, this match is important (maybe not for others).
Ce match, pour Paul, est important.
→ More marked / literary or spoken for strong emphasis or contrast:
This match, for Paul, is (really) important.

For everyday speech, the original version or Pour Paul, ce match est important are the most natural.

What’s the difference between Ce match est important pour Paul, C’est important pour Paul, and Il est important pour Paul?

They are related, but not identical:

Ce match est important pour Paul.
- Subject is explicit: ce match.
- Very clear what is important: this particular match.
C’est important pour Paul.
- C’ is a dummy subject (it stands for “this / that / it” in a general way).
- You’d normally use this when what “it” refers to is clear from context:
  - After someone mentions the match:
    - — Il doit gagner demain.
    - — Oui, c’est important pour Paul.
- Less specific: you’re not repeating “match”, just saying “this (whole thing) is important for Paul”.
Il est important pour Paul.
- In this exact form, it sounds incomplete, because il usually refers to a previously mentioned masculine noun:
  - Paul joue un match ce soir. Il est important pour Paul.
    → “He/It is important for Paul” (context tells you il refers to le match).
- More commonly, Il est important pour Paul de… is used in an impersonal structure:
  - Il est important pour Paul de gagner ce match.
    → It is important for Paul to win this match.

So:

To be clear and stand-alone: Ce match est important pour Paul.
To avoid repeating the noun, when context is clear: C’est important pour Paul.

How do you pronounce Ce match est important pour Paul? Is there any liaison?

A careful, standard pronunciation in IPA would be roughly:

[sə matʃ ɛ t‿ɛ̃pɔʁtɑ̃ puʁ pɔl]

Key points:

Ce → [sə] (like “suh”)
match → [matʃ], similar to English “match”
est → [ɛ] (“eh”)
important → [ɛ̃pɔʁtɑ̃]
- nasal vowel [ɛ̃] in im-
- final -t is silent
pour → [puʁ]
Paul → [pɔl] (like “poll” but with a more open o)

There is a liaison between est and important:

est important → [ɛ t‿ɛ̃pɔʁtɑ̃]
You pronounce a [t] sound linking est and important.

No liaison after match: you don’t say [matʃz ɛ], just [matʃ ɛ].

Could I say Ce jeu est important pour Paul instead of Ce match? Does it mean the same thing?

Not exactly. Both jeu and match relate to sports or games, but they’re used differently:

un match = a match / game in the sense of a competitive event with two sides, a score, etc.
- un match de football, un match de tennis
un jeu = a game in a more general sense (the activity or the set of rules):
- un jeu vidéo, un jeu de société

So:

Ce match est important pour Paul.
→ This particular competitive event is important for Paul (e.g., a football match).
Ce jeu est important pour Paul.
→ This game is important for Paul (could be a video game, a board game, or a more abstract “game”). It doesn’t naturally refer to a sports match unless context makes that clear and you’re speaking loosely.

For a sports context, match is usually the correct word.

How could I say “this match here / that match there is important for Paul” using -ci or -là?

You can add -ci or -là to the noun to distinguish this vs that more strongly:

Ce match-ci est important pour Paul.
→ This match here is important for Paul.
Ce match-là est important pour Paul.
→ That match there is important for Paul.

In everyday speech, many people are happy with just ce match and rely on context, intonation, or pointing. But -ci and -là are useful when you’re contrasting two matches:

Ce match-ci est important pour Paul, mais ce match-là ne l’est pas.
→ This match here is important for Paul, but that one isn’t.