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# il

«il» in Mova's school dictionary: **«he» or «it» in French: «il mange» is «he eats»** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

pronoun (French «il»; Italian «il» is an article) — not an English word

### meaning for a pupil

1) (French) «Il» means «he» or «it» in French: «il mange» is «he eats». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/il/#m1)

2) (French) In some phrases it means «it» with no real person: «il pleut» is «it is raining». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/il/#m2)

3) (Italian) In Italian «il» means «the», as in «il gelato» (the ice cream). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/il/#m3)

4) It is not an English word; to an English ear French «il» sounds like «eel». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/il/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In French lessons «il» (he/it) is learnt with «elle» (she/it), «ils» (they, masculine) and «elles» (they, feminine). Common phrases: «il y a» (there is, there are), «il fait beau» (the weather is nice), «s'il vous plaît» (please). In English you might see «il» in Italian food and place names, such as «Il Duomo» or a restaurant called «Il Forno».

### examples

- In French, «il est grand» means «he is tall». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/il/#x1)
- «Il pleut» means «it is raining». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/il/#x2)
- «S'il vous plaît» means «please». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/il/#x3)
- «Il y a un chat» means «there is a cat». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/il/#x4)
- French «il» sounds like the English word «eel». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/il/#x5)
- The Italian restaurant on our street is called «Il Forno». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/il/#x6)
- In French, a thing that is masculine is also called «il». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/il/#x7)

### note

French or Italian, not English. Do not read «il» as «ill» (sick). In French the «l» is said; in «ils» (they) the «s» is silent, so «il» and «ils» sound the same. Do not confuse it with the prefix «il-» in English words like «illegal» and «illogical», where it means «not».

### In the corpora

- [Prefixes meaning «not» include un-, in-, im-, il- and ir-.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/12-prefixes-un-dis-mis-re-pre-in-im-il-ir/14/)
- [Il neige means "It's snowing"; la neige is snow and un bonhomme de neige is a snowman.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/13-weather-and-seasons/9/)
- [Il fait un temps de chien ! means the weather is awful; Il pleut des cordes ! means it's pouring.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/13-weather-and-seasons/15/)
- [beau means beautiful or handsome, but il fait beau simply means the weather is sunny and nice.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/13-weather-and-seasons/16/)
- [Adjectives agree even after est: il est petit, elle est petite.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/27-adjectives-after-the-noun-and-agreeing/14/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «il» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/il/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.