Diese Haltestelle ist kleiner als der Bahnhof.

to be

Breakdown of Diese Haltestelle ist kleiner als der Bahnhof.

• klein: small
• diese: this
• der Bahnhof: the train station

Questions & Answers about Diese Haltestelle ist kleiner als der Bahnhof.

What kind of word is diese in this sentence, and why isn’t it die?

Diese is a demonstrative determiner (“this”) modifying Haltestelle. Because Haltestelle is feminine singular and serves as the subject (nominative), the correct form is diese, not die (which is the definite article).

Why doesn’t the adjective kleiner have an ending like it would in attributive position?

Here kleiner is a predicative adjective following the verb ist. Predicative adjectives in German are not inflected, so you use the base/comparative form kleiner without additional case endings.

Why is it kleiner and not mehr klein?

German comparatives are usually formed by adding -er to the adjective (e.g. klein → kleiner). You only use mehr + adjective with certain loanwords or very long adjectives where the -er form would sound awkward.

Why do we use als instead of wie after kleiner?