L’agence bancaire est là-bas.

Because agence starts with a vowel sound, French usually contracts le or la to l’ before it.

• la agence → incorrect
• l’agence → correct

This is called elision. It helps the sentence sound smoother.

Agence bancaire means bank branch or bank office.

• agence = branch, agency, office
• bancaire = banking / related to a bank

So this is not just any agency in the English sense. In this context, it specifically refers to a physical branch of a bank.

In French, many adjectives come after the noun, unlike in English.

So:

• agence bancaire = bank branch
• literally: branch banking

This is normal French word order. Not every adjective comes after the noun, but many do.

Est is the third-person singular form of the verb être (to be).

Here, the subject is l’agence bancaire, which is singular, so French uses est:

• je suis = I am
• tu es = you are
• il / elle / on est = he / she / one is

So L’agence bancaire est là-bas means The bank branch is over there.

Là-bas means over there, usually with a stronger sense of distance.

A simple way to think about it:

• ici = here
• là = there
• là-bas = over there / way over there

So là-bas suggests the place is not close to the speaker.

Yes, you should write the accent.

• là has a grave accent: à
• bas does not

So the correct spelling is là-bas.

The accent helps distinguish words and is part of standard French spelling.

Because là-bas is a fixed expression in French, and it is normally written with a hyphen.

It functions as an adverb of place meaning over there. You should learn it as one set phrase:

• ici
• là
• là-bas

A careful approximate pronunciation is:

lah-zhahns bahn-kair eh lah-bah

A few helpful notes:

• l’agence: the g sounds like the s in measure
• bancaire: the first syllable has a nasal vowel, so it is not pronounced like English ban
• est is usually pronounced eh here
• là-bas has a clear ah sound in both parts

If spoken naturally, French will sound smoother and more connected than this rough English approximation.

Usually yes: est is commonly pronounced eh in this kind of sentence.

However, pronunciation in French can vary depending on context, register, and speaker. For a learner, the safest choice here is to pronounce est as eh.

It actually already has the same form in both masculine and feminine singular in many uses.

Compare:

• un service bancaire
• une agence bancaire

The adjective bancaire does not change visibly between masculine and feminine singular here. That is normal for some French adjectives.

Yes. Those are grammatically correct, but they mean something different:

• L’agence bancaire est ici. = The bank branch is here.
• L’agence bancaire est là. = The bank branch is there / is here, depending on context.
• L’agence bancaire est là-bas. = The bank branch is over there.

The main difference is the sense of location and distance.

It is grammatically correct, but in everyday speech people often say:

• La banque est là-bas.

That is more common if you simply mean the bank in general.

L’agence bancaire sounds a bit more specific or formal, like the bank branch rather than just the bank.

Because this sentence is identifying the location of something specific, not introducing its existence.

• L’agence bancaire est là-bas. = The bank branch is over there.
• Il y a une agence bancaire là-bas. = There is a bank branch over there.

So:

• est = is
• il y a = there is / there are

Both are useful, but they do different jobs.

The structure is:

Subject + verb + place expression

So in this sentence:

• L’agence bancaire = subject
• est = verb
• là-bas = place expression

This is a very common and useful French pattern:

• Le restaurant est ici.
• La gare est là-bas.
• Le musée est en face.