Le rapport signale une défaillance.

The report points out a fault.

Breakdown of Le rapport signale une défaillance.

• le rapport: the report
• la défaillance: the defect; the failure
• signaler: to report (a fault); to point out

Questions & Answers about Le rapport signale une défaillance.

Why is it le rapport and not just rapport?

In French, nouns usually need a determiner, such as an article.

• le rapport = the report
• French generally does not omit the article as often as English does.

So Le rapport signale une défaillance sounds natural, while bare rapport would usually be incomplete in a normal sentence.

Why is rapport masculine?

Because rapport is a masculine noun in French, so it takes the masculine singular definite article le.

• le rapport
• not la rapport

This is something you normally just have to learn with the noun. A good habit is to memorize nouns with their article:

• le rapport
• la défaillance

What tense is signale?

Signale is the present tense of the verb signaler.

It is:

• il signale = it signals / it reports / it indicates

Since le rapport is third-person singular, the verb is also third-person singular:

• Le rapport signale ...

This present tense can often translate into natural English in more than one way depending on context:

• The report indicates ...
• The report reports ...
• The report notes ...