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Questions & Answers about هذا بيت كبير.
Where is the word for "is" in this sentence?
In Arabic, there is no word for "is" or "are" in the present tense. To say "This is a big house", you literally just put the words side by side: "This a house big" (هذا بيت كبير).
Why does the word for "big" (كبير) come after the word for "house" (بيت)?
In Arabic, describing words (adjectives) always come after the noun they describe. So instead of saying "big house", the order is "house big" (بيت كبير).
How do we know it means "a big house" and not "the big house"?
There is no word for "a" or "an" in Arabic. If a noun doesn't have the prefix for "the" (ال), it is automatically indefinite. Since بيت (house) doesn't have ال attached to the beginning, it translates to "a house".
Why did we use هذا (this) instead of the feminine version هذه?
Every noun in Arabic is either masculine or feminine. The word for house (بيت) is masculine, so we must use the masculine word for "this" (هذا). Notice that the adjective (كبير) is also in its basic masculine form to match the house!