Le courrier recommandé est plus cher, mais il est souvent plus pratique.

French often uses the definite article to talk about something in a general sense.

So Le courrier recommandé means registered mail, as a category.

Compare:

• Le courrier recommandé est plus cher. = Registered mail is more expensive.
• Un courrier recommandé est arrivé. = A piece of registered mail arrived.

English often drops the article in general statements, but French usually does not.

Courrier recommandé is the standard French expression for registered mail or recorded delivery.

Word for word:

• courrier = mail, post
• recommandé = literally recommended

But in this context, recommandé does not mean recommended in the English sense. It is the normal postal term for registered.

In French, many adjectives come after the noun, especially adjectives that are more descriptive or technical. Recommandé is one of those.

So:

• courrier recommandé
• lettre recommandée
• colis recommandé

This is very normal French word order. English often puts adjectives before the noun, but French often puts them after.

Because recommandé has to agree with courrier, and courrier is masculine singular.

So the adjective is also masculine singular:

• le courrier recommandé

Other forms would be:

• la lettre recommandée — feminine singular
• les courriers recommandés — masculine plural
• les lettres recommandées — feminine plural

Il refers back to le courrier recommandé.

Since courrier is a masculine singular noun, the pronoun used to refer to it is il.

So here il does not mean he. It simply means it, referring to the registered mail.

In French, a full clause normally needs a subject and a verb.

So after mais, you usually repeat the subject with a pronoun:

• Le courrier recommandé est plus cher, mais il est souvent plus pratique.

English sometimes allows more omission in casual speech, but standard French usually does not.

Repeating il est makes the sentence complete and natural.

Because this sentence gives a general comparison without saying exactly what it is being compared to.

So:

• plus cher = more expensive
• plus pratique = more practical / more convenient

The comparison is understood from context, usually something like ordinary mail.

If you want to state the comparison explicitly, you add que:

• Le courrier recommandé est plus cher que le courrier ordinaire.
• Il est plus pratique que l’envoi simple.

With être, adverbs like souvent usually come after the verb and before the adjective or descriptive phrase.

So:

• il est souvent plus pratique

That is the most natural word order.

It means:

• est = is
• souvent = often
• plus pratique = more practical

French adverb placement does not always match English exactly, so this is a useful pattern to remember.

Here, plus is part of a comparison:

• plus cher
• plus pratique

In this use, before a consonant, the final s is usually silent.

So it sounds like:

• plu cher
• plu pratique

If plus comes before a vowel sound, the s is often pronounced as a z in liaison:

• plus utile → roughly pluz utile

So in this sentence, do not pronounce the s in plus.

Sometimes yes, but il est is the clearer and more direct choice here because it refers back specifically to le courrier recommandé.

• il est souvent plus pratique = it is often more practical

C’est souvent plus pratique is possible in some contexts, but it feels a bit more general or looser. For a sentence that clearly picks up the noun le courrier recommandé, il is the more straightforward pronoun.

Courrier is broader than lettre.

• courrier = mail/post in a general sense
• lettre = a letter specifically

So:

• Le courrier recommandé talks about registered mail more generally.
• La lettre recommandée would refer specifically to a registered letter.

Both are correct, but they are not exactly the same in scope.

Not always. In this sentence, pratique is often best understood as convenient.

French pratique can mean:

• practical
• convenient
• handy

So plus pratique here probably means something like:

• easier to use
• more convenient
• more useful in practice

That is a very common use of pratique in everyday French.