Learn Italian: Il gatto e la casa. - The cat and the house.

Yes, both il and la mean "the". In Italian, every noun (person, place, or thing) has a grammatical gender: masculine or feminine. Because gatto is a masculine noun, it uses the masculine article il. Because casa is a feminine noun, it uses the feminine article la.

How do I know that gatto is masculine and casa is feminine?

A great rule of thumb for beginners is to look at the last letter of the noun. Most Italian words that end in -o (like gatto) are masculine. Most words that end in -a (like casa) are feminine.

What is the difference between e and è?

The word e (without an accent) simply means "and". If it has an accent mark, è, it is the verb meaning "is" (as in lui è, meaning "he is"). Because this sentence says "The cat AND the house", we use the unaccented e.

Can I just say Il gatto e casa like we say "The cat and house" in English?

No, you cannot. In Italian, you almost always have to repeat the article (the word for "the") before each noun in a list. You must include la before casa.