Breakdown of Notre logement est petit, mais il est confortable.
Questions & Answers about Notre logement est petit, mais il est confortable.
In French, the possessive adjective must agree in number (singular/plural) with the thing owned, not with the owner.
- Notre = our (before a singular noun, whether masculine or feminine)
- Nos = our (before a plural noun, whether masculine or feminine)
Because logement is singular, you must say:
- Notre logement = our accommodation / our place
If you were talking about several accommodations, you’d say:
- Nos logements = our accommodations
Logement is a masculine noun: le logement, un logement.
Unfortunately, in French you often just have to learn the gender with the word. However, some endings are often (not always) masculine. Nouns ending in -ment are very frequently masculine:
- le logement (accommodation)
- le bâtiment (building)
- le gouvernement (government)
So you say:
- un petit logement
- notre logement est petit
Adjectives in French agree with the gender and number of the noun they describe.
- logement is masculine singular
→ the adjective must also be masculine singular: petit.
If it were feminine singular, you’d normally add an -e:
- une petite maison (a small house)
If it were plural, you’d add -s:
- de petits logements (small accommodations)
- de petites maisons (small houses)
There are two different situations:
Adjective directly with the noun (attributive)
Many common adjectives (like petit, grand, beau, etc.) often go before the noun:- un petit logement (a small place)
Adjective after a verb like être (predicative)
When you use être- adjective to describe the subject, the adjective always comes after the verb, not before the noun:
- Notre logement est petit. (Our place is small.)
So:
- un petit logement (adjective before noun)
- Notre logement est petit. (subject + être
- adjective)
Both il est and c’est can translate as it is, but they’re used differently.
Here, il refers directly back to logement:
- Notre logement est petit, mais il est confortable.
→ Our place is small, but it is comfortable.
(il = the lodging)
Use il/elle est + adjective when:
- The subject has already been clearly identified.
- The adjective describes that specific thing/person.
C’est is more generic and is also used before a noun or a determiner:
- C’est confortable. = That’s comfortable / It’s comfortable (in general).
- C’est un logement confortable. = It’s a comfortable place.
You could say C’est confortable if you were making a general comment (e.g. after trying the place), but in this exact sentence, il est confortable is grammatically more precise because it clearly refers to logement.
Yes, that is also correct:
- Notre logement est petit, mais confortable.
In this version, confortable is understood as another adjective describing logement, so you don’t need to repeat il est.
Difference in feel:
- … petit, mais confortable. → more compact, slightly more informal/neutral.
- … petit, mais il est confortable. → repeats the subject + verb; can sound a bit more explicit or slightly more emphatic, as if you’re insisting: it’s small, but it *is comfortable.*
Both are fine in normal speech and writing.
Mais means “but”. It introduces a contrast between two ideas:
- petit (a possible disadvantage)
- confortable (a compensating advantage)
The comma before mais is standard in French when joining two clauses:
- Notre logement est petit, mais il est confortable.
You can also find mais without a comma in shorter sentences, but in writing, a comma here is normal and helps readability.
Confortable does agree, but its masculine and feminine singular forms are identical.
For adjectives ending in -e in the masculine, the feminine singular form usually stays the same:
- Masculine singular: un logement confortable
- Feminine singular: une maison confortable
For the plural, you add -s:
- Masculine plural: des logements confortables
- Feminine plural: des maisons confortables
In your sentence, logement is masculine singular, so the correct form is confortable (no extra ending needed).
Yes, this is perfectly correct:
- Notre logement est confortable, mais petit.
The overall meaning is the same, but the emphasis changes subtly:
- … est petit, mais il est confortable.
→ You start with the negative aspect (small), then “rescue” it with the positive one (comfortable). - … est confortable, mais petit.
→ You lead with the positive aspect, then mention the drawback.
It’s a nuance of what you want to highlight first, not a grammatical difference.
Approximate pronunciation (in IPA):
- Notre logement est petit, mais il est confortable.
/nɔtʁ lɔʒmɑ̃ ɛ pəti mɛ zil ɛ kɔ̃fɔʁtabl/
Key points:
- notre → /nɔtʁ/ (final e is very reduced or almost silent)
- logement → /lɔʒmɑ̃/ (final -ent is nasal -an sound, no t)
- est → /ɛ/ (the s and t are silent)
- petit → /pəti/ here; final t is silent because it’s at the end of the clause
- mais il → liaison: mais /mɛ/ + il /il/ = /mɛ.z‿il/ (you hear a z sound)
- confortable → /kɔ̃fɔʁtabl/ (final -e pronounced as a weak ə or often very lightly in connected speech)
Liaisons to notice:
- mais il → /mɛ.z‿il/
No liaison between logement est or est petit in this sentence.
- logement = accommodation, lodging, housing.
A generic term for where you live (house, flat, room, etc.). - maison = house.
- appartement = apartment / flat.
So:
- Notre logement est petit… → Our place is small… (you’re not specifying if it’s a house, flat, studio, etc.)
- Notre appartement est petit… → specifically our apartment is small…
- Notre maison est petite… → specifically our house is small…