Word
Die Katze ist klein.
Meaning
The cat is small.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
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Questions & Answers about Die Katze ist klein.
Why is it Die Katze and not Der Katze or Das Katze?
In German, every noun has a grammatical gender. Katze (cat) is a feminine noun, so it takes the feminine word for 'the', which is die.
How would I change this sentence to say 'A cat is small' instead of 'The cat'?
Because Katze is feminine, you need the feminine indefinite article eine. The sentence would be Eine Katze ist klein. If the noun were masculine or neuter, you would use ein instead.
Why doesn't the word for small (klein) have an ending like kleine here?
When an adjective comes after the verb (like ist), it stays in its basic dictionary form. Adjectives only get extra endings when they are placed directly in front of the noun they describe.
Why is Katze capitalized?
In German, all nouns (words that name people, animals, places, things, or ideas) are always capitalized, no matter where they are in a sentence.