Das kleine Haus ist hübsch.

The small house is pretty.

Breakdown of Das kleine Haus ist hübsch.

• sein: to be
• das Haus: the house
• klein: small
• hübsch: pretty

Questions & Answers about Das kleine Haus ist hübsch.

Why is it das and not der or die?

Because Haus is a neuter noun in German, and the nominative singular definite article for neuter nouns is das.

German nouns have grammatical gender:

• der = masculine
• die = feminine
• das = neuter

So:

• das Haus = the house

This gender is a property of the noun itself, not of the real-world object. A house is not “neuter” in a logical sense; it is simply grammatically neuter in German.

Why does klein become kleine?

Because klein is being used before a noun, so it must take an adjective ending.

In das kleine Haus, kleine is an attributive adjective: it directly describes the noun Haus.

After the definite article das, the adjective takes -e in the nominative singular neuter:

• das kleine Haus

This is part of German adjective declension. English adjectives do not change form, but German ones often do.

Compare:

• ein kleines Haus = a small house
• das kleine Haus = the small house

The ending changes depending on the article, gender, number, and case.