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Meine Eltern sind verheiratet und wohnen im gleichen Haus.

Meine Eltern sind verheiratet und wohnen im gleichen Haus.
My parents are married and live in the same house.
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Questions & Answers about Meine Eltern sind verheiratet und wohnen im gleichen Haus.

Why is it Meine Eltern and not Mein Eltern?

Mein is the base form of the possessive (my). It changes its ending to match the noun’s gender, number, and case.

  • Eltern (parents) is plural.
  • In nominative plural, all possessive determiners take -e.

So:

  • meine Eltern = my parents
  • mein Vater = my father (masc. singular, nominative)
  • meine Mutter = my mother (fem. singular, nominative)

That’s why you need Meine Eltern, not Mein Eltern.

Why is Eltern plural? Is there a singular form like “Elter”?

Eltern is grammatically and semantically plural and means parents. In normal modern German:

  • There is no common everyday singular Elter meaning “parent”.
  • If you need a singular, you usually say:
    • ein Elternteil = a parent
    • das Elternteil = the parent

So Meine Eltern always means my parents (both together), not “my parent”.

Why is it sind and not ist?

The verb must agree with the subject:

  • Subject: Meine Eltern = they (plural)
  • Therefore you need the 3rd person plural of sein: sie sind

So:

  • Meine Eltern sind … = My parents are …
  • Mein Vater ist … = My father is …
  • Meine Mutter ist … = My mother is …
What exactly is verheiratet here? An adjective? A past participle?

Verheiratet comes historically from a participle, but in modern usage it behaves like an adjective meaning married.

In this sentence it is a predicate adjective after sein:

  • Meine Eltern sind verheiratet. = My parents are married.

Predicate adjectives in German:

  • Do not take endings after sein, werden, bleiben, etc.
  • Just appear in their basic form:
    • Er ist müde. (He is tired.)
    • Wir sind glücklich. (We are happy.)
    • Sie ist verheiratet. (She is married.)
What is the difference between wohnen and leben? Could I say leben instead?

Both can translate as to live, but they focus on different things:

  • wohnen = to live somewhere, to reside, to have your home there

    • Ich wohne in Berlin. = I live (reside) in Berlin.

  • leben = to live in the sense of being alive or having a way of life

    • Meine Großeltern leben noch. = My grandparents are still alive.
    • Er lebt gesund. = He lives healthily.

In the sentence … und wohnen im gleichen Haus, the point is where they live, so wohnen is the natural verb.
You could say … und leben im gleichen Haus, and it would be understood, but wohnen is the more precise and idiomatic choice for “live in the same house”.

What does im mean, and how is it formed?

Im is a contraction (short form) of in dem.

  • in = in
  • dem = the (dative singular, masculine or neuter)

So:

  • in dem Haus → im Haus = in the house

This contraction is very common and usually preferred in speech and writing:

  • in dem Park → im Park
  • in dem Auto → im Auto
Why is it im gleichen Haus and not im gleiche Haus?

This is about adjective endings after a definite article in the dative singular neuter:

  1. Haus is das Haus (neuter).
  2. After in with a location (no movement), you use dative:
    • in dem Haus → im Haus.
  3. With definite articles (der, die, das, dem, etc.), adjectives take weak endings:
    • Dative singular (all genders): adjective ending is -en.

So the pattern is:

  • in dem gleichen Haus → im gleichen Haus

That’s why you must say gleichen, not gleiche.

What exactly does gleichen mean here? Is it “same” or “similar”?

Gleich can mean both same and the same/identical, depending on context.

In im gleichen Haus it normally means in the same house (one and the same building), not just a similar house.

Nuances:

  • im gleichen Haus – normally understood as “in the same house”
  • im selben Haus – very clearly “in the very same house” (emphasizes strict identity)

In everyday speech, im gleichen Haus is perfectly natural for in the same house.

Why is it im gleichen Haus with Haus unchanged? Shouldn’t Haus get an ending in dative?

In German, most neuter nouns do not change their form in the dative singular.

  • Nominative: das Haus
  • Dative: dem Haus (the noun stays Haus, only the article changes)

So in im gleichen Haus:

  • im = in dem (dative)
  • gleichen = adjective with dative ending -en
  • Haus = stays the same form

Only a few noun types add -n/-en in the dative (many masculine weak nouns, some plurals), but Haus is not one of those.

Why does the sentence have two verbs (sind and wohnen) and how does the word order work with und?

You actually have two main clauses joined by und:

  1. Meine Eltern sind verheiratet.
  2. (Meine Eltern) wohnen im gleichen Haus.

When you join them:

  • Meine Eltern sind verheiratet und wohnen im gleichen Haus.

Rules:

  • In a main clause, the finite verb (conjugated verb) is in second position (the verb-second rule).
  • The subject Meine Eltern is shared by both parts and is stated only once.

So the structure is:

  • [Meine Eltern] [sind] [verheiratet] und [wohnen] [im gleichen Haus].

Both sind and wohnen are in second position within their respective parts of the coordination.

Should there be a comma before und in this sentence?

No comma is needed here.

In German, you normally do not put a comma before und when it just joins:

  • two nouns
  • two adjectives
  • or two closely related main clauses like this one

A comma would be possible (and sometimes preferred) if the clauses were longer or more complex, but in a simple sentence like:

  • Meine Eltern sind verheiratet und wohnen im gleichen Haus.

you typically write it without a comma.