C’est dommage, le spectacle est annulé, et nous ne pouvons pas y aller ce soir.

C’est dommage is a very common fixed expression meaning That’s a shame or That’s too bad.

French often uses c’est to comment on a situation in a general way.

• C’est dommage. = That’s a shame.
• C’est bien. = That’s good.
• C’est triste. = That’s sad.

Il est dommage is much less common by itself. You are more likely to see:

• Il est dommage que... = It is a shame that...
• Il est dommage de... = It is a shame to...

So in this sentence, C’est dommage is the natural everyday choice.

Not really. This is a false friend.

In French, un spectacle usually means a show, a performance, or an event you go watch.

It can refer to:

• a concert
• a theater performance
• a dance show
• a live performance in general

English spectacle often means something visually impressive or dramatic, which is not the usual meaning here.

So in this sentence, le spectacle simply means the show.

Le spectacle means the show, referring to a specific show that both speaker and listener already know about.

French uses the definite article le / la / les when the thing is specific or already understood from context.

• le spectacle = the show
• un spectacle = a show

Since the show has already been identified in the conversation or situation, le spectacle is the right choice.

Because this is a passive construction.

• Le spectacle est annulé = The show is cancelled / has been cancelled
• Quelqu’un a annulé le spectacle = Someone cancelled the show

So:

• a annulé is active: someone did the action
• est annulé is passive: the subject receives the action

In everyday French, est annulé is very common for events, flights, meetings, reservations, etc.

Examples:

• Le vol est annulé. = The flight is cancelled.
• La réunion est annulée. = The meeting is cancelled.

Because annulé agrees with le spectacle, and spectacle is masculine singular.

Agreement in the passive works like this:

• masculine singular: annulé
• feminine singular: annulée
• masculine plural: annulés
• feminine plural: annulées

Examples:

• Le spectacle est annulé.
• La représentation est annulée.
• Les concerts sont annulés.

So the form depends on the noun being described.

Ne ... pas is the standard way to make a verb negative in French.

Here, the positive sentence would be:

• Nous pouvons y aller ce soir. = We can go there tonight.

To make it negative, French puts:

• ne before the conjugated verb
• pas after it

So:

• Nous ne pouvons pas y aller ce soir. = We cannot go there tonight.

A quick pattern:

• Je mange. = I eat.
• Je ne mange pas. = I do not eat.

In informal spoken French, people often drop ne:

• Nous pouvons pas y aller.

But in correct written French, ne ... pas should be kept.

Because the subject is nous, so the verb pouvoir must be conjugated for nous.

Present tense of pouvoir:

• je peux
• tu peux
• il/elle/on peut
• nous pouvons
• vous pouvez
• ils/elles peuvent

So:

• nous pouvons = we can
• nous ne pouvons pas = we cannot

You need ne because the sentence is negative.

Then aller stays in the infinitive because pouvoir is followed by another verb:

• nous pouvons aller
• nous ne pouvons pas aller

Y is a pronoun that usually replaces to it, there, or to that place/event, especially after à.

Here, y aller means to go there or to go to it.

In this sentence, y refers to the show, or more precisely to going to the show.

Without y, you could say something like:

• Nous ne pouvons pas aller au spectacle ce soir.

With y, French avoids repeating the whole phrase:

• Nous ne pouvons pas y aller ce soir.

This is very common in French.

Examples:

• Tu vas à Paris ? Oui, j’y vais.
• Vous allez au concert ? Non, nous ne pouvons pas y aller.

Yes. That is a very common point of confusion.

Y often refers to:

• a place
• something introduced by à
• an event or destination you are going to

So in this sentence, it works because going to the show can be understood as going there or going to it.

However, y does not normally replace a person.

For example:

• Je pense à mon travail → J’y pense.
• Je vais au théâtre → J’y vais.

But not:

• Je parle à Marie → not J’y parle

So here, y is perfectly natural because it refers to the destination/event, not a person.

Because soir is masculine.

• ce = this, masculine singular
• cette = this, feminine singular

So:

• ce soir = tonight / this evening
• cette soirée = this evening, but with the feminine noun soirée

Compare:

• ce matin = this morning
• cet après-midi = this afternoon
• cette nuit = tonight / this night

So ce soir is correct because the noun is soir, which is masculine.

Because time expressions like ce soir are often placed at the end in French, especially after the main verbal idea.

• Nous ne pouvons pas y aller ce soir.

This sounds natural and neutral.

You can sometimes move it for emphasis:

• Ce soir, nous ne pouvons pas y aller.

But the version with ce soir at the end is the most straightforward here.

Et simply links the two ideas:

• the show is cancelled
• we cannot go tonight

It is natural to join them with et because the second idea follows logically from the first.

You could also split the sentence:

• C’est dommage. Le spectacle est annulé. Nous ne pouvons pas y aller ce soir.

That sounds a little more broken up and emphatic.

You could also say:

• C’est dommage : le spectacle est annulé, donc nous ne pouvons pas y aller ce soir.

That makes the cause-and-result relationship even clearer.

So et is not the only possibility, but it is completely correct and natural.

A few useful pronunciation points:

• C’est sounds like say
• dommage sounds roughly like doh-mazh
• spectacle is roughly spek-takl
• est annulé often flows together smoothly in speech
• nous ne pouvons pas y aller is pronounced much more fluidly than it looks

A few details:

1. C’est

   • pronounced like say
   • the final t is not pronounced by itself

2. Spectacle

   • the final e is silent
   • the cle ending is compact: spek-takl

3. Annulé

   • final é is a clear ay sound
   • annulé sounds roughly like a-new-lay

4. Nous ne pouvons pas

   • in careful speech, all parts are there
   • in casual speech, ne is often dropped:
     • Nous pouvons pas

5. Y aller

   • y sounds like ee
   • aller sounds roughly like ah-lay
   • together: ee ah-lay

So the full sentence in a rough English-style guide could be: Say doh-mazh, luh spek-takl ay ta-new-lay, ay noo nuh poo-von pah zee ah-lay suh swar.

That is only approximate, but it can help you hear the flow.