Die Kleinen schlafen schon, die Großen sitzen noch am Lagerfeuer.

to sleep

Breakdown of Die Kleinen schlafen schon, die Großen sitzen noch am Lagerfeuer.

• schon: already
• noch: still (up to now)
• sitzen: to sit

Questions & Answers about Die Kleinen schlafen schon, die Großen sitzen noch am Lagerfeuer.

What does die Kleinen mean exactly, and why is Kleinen written with a capital letter?

Die Kleinen literally means “the small ones / the little ones” and usually refers to small children.
Kleinen is originally an adjective (klein = small), but here it is used as a noun (“the small ones”), which in German is called a substantiviertes Adjektiv (adjective turned into a noun). All nouns in German are capitalized, so Kleinen is written with a capital K.

How do we know that die Kleinen is plural and not “the small (feminine) one”?

The article die can mean either feminine singular or plural of any gender, so by itself it’s ambiguous.
We know die Kleinen is plural because the verb is schlafen, which is the 3rd person plural form (“they sleep/are sleeping”), not schläft (he/she/it sleeps).
Context also helps: talking about “little ones” and “big ones” around a campfire practically always means multiple children or people.

Why does it say die Kleinen and not die kleine Kinder?

Die kleinen Kinder would mean “the small children” and explicitly uses the noun Kinder.
Die Kleinen leaves out the noun and lets the adjective stand as a noun: “the little ones.”
This sounds more informal and familiar, and it’s very natural when speaking about groups like children vs. adults (e.g. die Kleinen und die Großen).

Why is the ending used in and here?