L'enseignement est important pour notre société.

Education is important for our society.

Breakdown of L'enseignement est important pour notre société.

• être: to be
• pour: for
• important: important
• notre: our
• la société: the society
• l'enseignement: the education

Questions & Answers about L'enseignement est important pour notre société.

Why is there an apostrophe in L'enseignement instead of Le enseignement?

In French, the definite articles le and la become l' in front of any singular noun that begins with a vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u, and usually h).

• Enseignement starts with a vowel sound [ã] (the nasal en), so:
  
  • le enseignement → incorrect
  • l'enseignement → correct

This is called elision. It makes pronunciation smoother and is mandatory in writing in such cases.

Is enseignement masculine or feminine, and how can I tell?

Enseignement is masculine. You can see this from the article:

• L'enseignement actually comes from le enseignement, not la enseignement.

Unfortunately, the gender of nouns in French is mostly arbitrary and must be memorized. Some common endings tend to be masculine (for example, -ment nouns are usually masculine: le gouvernement, le département, le mouvement), which can help you guess.

Why is it L'enseignement est important and not L'enseignement est importante?

The adjective important must agree in gender and number with the noun it describes.

• Enseignement is masculine singular, so the adjective stays in its masculine singular form: important.
• Feminine singular would be importante.
• Masculine plural: importants.
• Feminine plural: importantes.

Since l'enseignement is masculine singular, important does not change.

What is the difference between enseignement, éducation, and études?

They all relate to learning but are used differently:

• Enseignement

  • Literal meaning: teaching / instruction / the act or system of teaching.
  • Often refers to the school system, teaching profession, or the act of teaching.
  • Example: l'enseignement primaire (primary education), l'enseignement supérieur (higher education).

• Éducation

  • Broader: education in the sense of upbringing, manners, values, and schooling together.
  • More about how a person has been brought up and taught to behave.
  • Example: Il a reçu une bonne éducation (He was well brought up / he received a good education).

• Études (usually plural)

  • Means studies, i.e., what a student does.
  • Example: faire ses études de droit (to study law).

In L'enseignement est important pour notre société, the focus is on the teaching/education system as a whole, not individual studies or personal upbringing.

Why is it pour notre société and not à notre société?

Both pour and à can translate as for, but they are used differently.

• Pour often expresses:

  • Benefit / in favor of / for the good of
    
    • L'enseignement est important pour notre société.
      ⇒ Education is important for (benefits) our society.
  • Purpose / goal
    
    • C’est bon pour la santé. (It’s good for your health.)

• À often marks:

  • Direction (to, towards)
  • Location (at, in)
  • Recipient (to someone)

Here, we mean that education is beneficial to society, so pour is the natural choice. À notre société would sound strange in this context.

Could I say L'enseignement est important dans notre société instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, L'enseignement est important dans notre société is correct, but the nuance changes slightly:

• … est important pour notre société

  • Highlights that education is beneficial to society, it helps society, society needs it.

• … est important dans notre société

  • Highlights that education occupies an important place within society or has an important role in society.

Both are positive about education, but:

• pour → focuses on benefit to society.
• dans → focuses more on its role/position inside society.

Why do we say L'enseignement est important and not C'est important, l'enseignement or L'enseignement, c'est important?

All three structures are possible, but they are used differently:

1. L'enseignement est important.

   • Neutral, formal, standard written French.
   • Subject + verb + adjective.

2. C'est important, l'enseignement.

   • More oral, more emphatic, slightly informal.
   • First you state C'est important (That’s important), then you clarify.

3. L'enseignement, c'est important.

   • Very common in speech.
   • Topic-comment structure: you introduce the topic (L'enseignement), then comment on it (c'est important).
   • Feels more conversational.

In a simple, neutral sentence (like in a textbook or essay), L'enseignement est important is the most straightforward.

Why is it notre société and not just la société?

Both are possible, but they don’t say exactly the same thing:

• notre société = our society, the one we belong to (our country, our culture, our time).

  • It emphasizes that we are talking about the society we are part of.

• la société = society in a more general sense, or society as a whole.

So:

• L'enseignement est important pour notre société.

  • Education is important for our society in particular, the one we live in.

• L'enseignement est important pour la société.

  • Education is important for society in general (more abstract).

How do you pronounce L'enseignement and which letters are silent?

Approximate pronunciation in IPA: [l‿ãsɛɲmɑ̃]

Breaking it down:

• L' → [l]
• en → nasal vowel [ã] (like “ahn” but nasal)
• seign → [sɛɲ]
  
  • gn = the “ny” sound like in “onion”: [ɲ]
  • The written e after gn is not a separate vowel sound here.
• ement → [mɑ̃], another nasal vowel
  
  • The final -ent is not pronounced as t; it gives the nasal vowel.

So you do not pronounce every written consonant:

• You do not say the g as in “go”
• You do not pronounce t at the end

It’s roughly like: lahn-say-ny-mahn (all very connected and nasal).

Can enseignement mean both teaching and education in English?

Yes, depending on context, enseignement can be translated different ways:

• Teaching / instruction

  • L'enseignement des langues est difficile.
    ⇒ Teaching languages is difficult.

• Education (as a system)

  • Réformer l'enseignement
    ⇒ To reform education / the education system.

In L'enseignement est important pour notre société, you could translate it as:

• Education is important for our society.
  or
• Teaching is important for our society.

In most natural English contexts, Education is important for our society sounds more idiomatic.