Je lis le relevé de compte.

Because lis is the conjugated form of the verb lire (to read) for je.

• lire = infinitive, like to read
• je lis = I read / I am reading

French usually needs a conjugated verb in a full sentence, just like English does.

A few present-tense forms of lire are:

• je lis
• tu lis
• il/elle/on lit
• nous lisons
• vous lisez
• ils/elles lisent

So in this sentence, je lis is the correct present-tense form.

It can mean either one.

French present tense often covers both:

• I read
• I am reading

So je lis le relevé de compte could mean either:

• I read the bank statement
• I am reading the bank statement

The exact meaning depends on context.

Lis is pronounced lee.

The final s is silent here.

So:

• je lis sounds roughly like zhuh lee

A useful thing to know is that these forms sound the same:

• je lis
• tu lis
• il lit

They are spelled differently, but all are pronounced lee.

Le is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the.

So:

• le relevé = the statement

French uses articles much more regularly than English, so where English sometimes drops the, French often keeps it.

Here, relevé is a masculine singular noun, so le is the correct article.

Yes. Relevé is a masculine noun in this expression, so it takes le.

• un relevé
• le relevé

In French, every noun has a grammatical gender, and the article has to match it.

Here, relevé means something like statement, record, or statement printout.

In banking language, un relevé de compte means an account statement or bank statement.

The word comes from the verb relever, but in this sentence it is a noun.

This is one of the most common learner questions.

In relevé de compte, de links the two nouns in a fixed expression, a bit like statement of account.

French often uses de + noun without an article in set noun phrases:

• une salle de classe = a classroom
• une carte de crédit = a credit card
• un relevé de compte = an account statement

Using du would make it sound more specific in a different way and is not the normal standard expression here.

So the usual phrase is:

• un relevé de compte
• le relevé de compte

Because in this kind of noun phrase, French often uses de directly before the second noun without an article.

Here, de compte works almost like a label: it tells you what kind of relevé it is.

Compare:

• un relevé de compte = an account statement
• une machine à café = a coffee machine
• une table de cuisine = a kitchen table

This structure is very common in French.

Here, compte means account, specifically a financial or bank account.

The word compte can appear in different contexts, but in relevé de compte, the banking meaning is the natural one.

They are very close.

• un relevé de compte = an account statement
• un relevé bancaire = a bank statement

In many contexts, they can refer to the same thing.
Relevé bancaire makes the banking connection more explicit, while relevé de compte is also very standard.

The word order is very straightforward:

• Je = subject
• lis = verb
• le relevé de compte = direct object

So the pattern is:

• Subject + Verb + Object

That is the same basic order as in English:

• I read the bank statement

Not exactly, but it has a similar job.

Grammatically, de compte is a noun phrase introduced by de, and it specifies the type of relevé. In English, we might use another noun directly before the main noun, as in account statement. French usually prefers a structure with de:

• relevé de compte
• literally something like statement of account

So it is not an adjective, but it helps describe the noun.

A careful pronunciation would be roughly:

• Je lis le relevé de compte
• zhuh lee luh ruh-luh-vay duh kont

A few useful notes:

• je often sounds like zhuh
• lis = lee
• relevé has three syllables: re-le-vé
• the final e in compte is silent
• the pt in compte is pronounced just as t in modern standard French

In natural speech, some e sounds may become weaker or disappear, but the careful version above is a good starting point.

The accents help show pronunciation.

In relevé:

• the first é is pronounced ay
• the second é is also pronounced ay

So relevé is pronounced roughly ruh-luh-vay.

The accents are not optional; they are part of the correct spelling.

Yes, absolutely.

That would mean I am reading my bank statement.

The original sentence uses le because it refers to the bank statement in a general or understood context. But in real life, people often make it more specific:

• Je lis mon relevé de compte.
• Je consulte mon relevé de compte.

Both sound natural, depending on context.