french - c'est and il est

[AlMac11]

hey. i'm having trouble knowing when to use "c'est " and when to use "il est "for "it is". can anyone help me? i didnt know where to post this question sorry

[southerngirl]

Hi

Il est really means "he is" (elle est means "she is") and c'est means "that is". As you probably know the French don't have a neuter gender like us. We have "it", "he", "she". The French only have he or she. So, all objects in French are either he or she, never it. Therefore, if you were asked, for example if a window was open or closed and it was open, you would say elle est ouverte (a window is feminine in French.) On the other hand, if you wanted to say "that is good", you would say in French "c'est bon".

Hope that makes sense. If not, I'm sure someone else with better French than me can explain it better.