Learn Hardcore French: Paul trouve que l'anglais est difficile.

Trouve is the present-tense form of trouver for il / elle / on (third person singular).
Paul is a singular third‑person subject, so you must use il-form: Paul trouve.

Very briefly, in the present tense:

je trouve
tu trouves
il / elle / on trouve
nous trouvons
vous trouvez
ils / elles trouvent

What does trouve que mean here? Does it still mean “find”?

Trouver does literally mean “to find” (e.g. Je trouve mes clés – “I find my keys”).

But when trouver is followed by que + a clause, it usually means “to think / to feel / to consider (that)”:

Paul trouve que l’anglais est difficile.
→ “Paul thinks / feels that English is difficult.”

So here trouve que ≈ “thinks that”, not “finds that” in a physical sense.

Why do we need que after trouve? Can we just say Paul trouve l’anglais est difficile?

No, you cannot say Paul trouve l’anglais est difficile; that is ungrammatical in French.

Que is a conjunction introducing a subordinate clause (l’anglais est difficile). It works like “that” in English:

Paul trouve que l’anglais est difficile.
→ literally “Paul finds/considers that English is difficult.”

In French, after many verbs of thinking, saying, feeling, etc., you must introduce the whole sentence that follows with que.

Could we say Paul trouve l’anglais difficile instead of Paul trouve que l’anglais est difficile?

Yes, you can. Both are correct, with a small nuance:

Paul trouve que l’anglais est difficile.
→ Paul thinks that English is difficult. (full clause)
Paul trouve l’anglais difficile.
→ Paul finds English difficult. (direct object + adjective)

The meaning is very close. The version with que feels slightly more like reporting an opinion in sentence form; the other is a bit more compact and descriptive.

Why is it l’anglais and not just anglais (without an article), like in English “English is difficult”?

In French, names of languages normally take the definite article (le, la, l’, les) when they are subjects or objects:

L’anglais est difficile.
Le français est intéressant.
J’aime l’espagnol.

Unlike English, you normally cannot drop the article and just say Anglais est difficile. That would sound wrong in standard French.

Why is it l’anglais and not le anglais?

French uses elision: le becomes l’ before a word that starts with a vowel (or mute h).

le
- anglais → l’anglais
le
- arbre → l’arbre

So the underlying form is le anglais, but in correct French you must contract it to l’anglais.

Is anglais masculine or feminine? How do we know?

Here anglais (the language) is masculine singular.

Most names of languages in French are masculine:

le français
l’anglais
l’espagnol
l’italien

There isn’t a reliable visual rule; you just learn each noun’s gender, but for languages, “masculine” is a safe default.

Should anglais be capitalized in French, like in English?

No. In French, names of languages are not capitalized (unless they start a sentence):

J’étudie l’anglais et le français.
Paul trouve que l’anglais est difficile.

Adjectives of nationality and language names are normally lowercase in French.

Why is difficile placed after est? Could we put it somewhere else?

Here difficile is an adjective describing the subject (l’anglais) after the verb être. The normal pattern is:

subject + être + adjective
→ L’anglais est difficile.

You cannot move the adjective before être (difficile est l’anglais is poetic/very unusual) or before the noun in this structure. The standard order is exactly as in the sentence: l’anglais est difficile.

Does difficile change form depending on gender and number?

Yes, but its singular form is the same for masculine and feminine:

masculine singular: difficile
feminine singular: difficile
masculine plural: difficiles
feminine plural: difficiles

Examples:

Ce livre est difficile. (m.sg.)
Cette langue est difficile. (f.sg.)
Ces exercices sont difficiles. (pl.)

Could we say Paul trouve que l’anglais, c’est difficile instead? Is it correct?

Yes, Paul trouve que l’anglais, c’est difficile is colloquially acceptable and often heard in speech. It’s a bit more conversational and emphasizes l’anglais:

Paul trouve que l’anglais est difficile. → neutral, standard.
Paul trouve que l’anglais, c’est difficile. → more spoken, with a slight pause/emphasis on l’anglais.

In careful written French, the original sentence (… est difficile) is more standard.

How is anglais pronounced, and why is the final -s silent?

Anglais is pronounced roughly [ɑ̃-glɛ]:

an- → nasal sound [ɑ̃] (like “on” in French).
-glais → [glɛ].

The final -s in many French words is silent in the singular:

anglais [ɑ̃glɛ]
français [fʁɑ̃sɛ]

You only really hear an /z/ sound if there is a liaison with a following vowel (e.g. des anglais intéressants → dez‿anglais…).