Der kleine Knopf sitzt unter dem Bildschirm neben dem Mikrofon.

The small button is under the screen next to the microphone.

Breakdown of Der kleine Knopf sitzt unter dem Bildschirm neben dem Mikrofon.

• dem: the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
• klein: small
• sitzen: to sit
• unter: under

Questions & Answers about Der kleine Knopf sitzt unter dem Bildschirm neben dem Mikrofon.

Why is Der used before kleine Knopf? Can't it be Die Knopf or Das Knopf?

Knopf is a masculine noun in German. In the nominative singular, masculine nouns take der as their definite article. That’s why it’s der kleine Knopf rather than die Knopf or das Knopf.

Why does the adjective kleine end in -e instead of -er?

After a definite article (der) adjectives follow the weak declension. For masculine nominative, the weak ending is -e, giving you kleine. If you dropped the article, you’d need the strong ending and say kleiner Knopf.

Why is Knopf capitalized but kleine is not?

German orthography dictates that all nouns (like Knopf) are always capitalized, while adjectives (like kleine) and other parts of speech remain lowercase unless they start a sentence.

Why is the verb sitzt used here? Couldn’t we use liegt or steht for an inanimate object?