knowing the difference

Question

Hi,

I was wondering for for using il or c'est in this sentence. Que penses-tu de mon canape? ____ est tres joli. Since it is a specific item mon canape I would use il est? I was going to use c'est tres cause when you have the verb etre your suppose to use c'est but, in this sentence to me it seems specific so I would use il est in this case. Am i correct?

this is a question in the kwiziq

Thanks

Nicole

Accepted Answer

In the example you quote, you can use il because you're referring to a specific sofa.

Answer

I think you have the grammatical rule a little confused. It is not that you use 'c'est' because of the verb être. However you don't use 'il/elle est (article) noun', relatively rare exceptions aside.

In your example the choice is between:

'il est très joli' - a specific comment followed by a masculine adjective because of 'il est' (feminine adjective if it was 'elle est'), or

'c'est très joli' - a general comment, not the 'best' choice here, although in everyday speech, 'c'est (masculine) adjective' is being increasingly used according to Camille (2nd link)

"C'est" vs "Il/Elle est" to say it is/she is/he is in French

https://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/french-grammar/cest-versus-il-elle-est/