Mein Hund ist klein.

to be

Breakdown of Mein Hund ist klein.

• der Hund: the dog
• mein: my; (masculine or neuter, nominative)
• klein: short

Questions & Answers about Mein Hund ist klein.

Why is Hund capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, no matter where they appear in the sentence.
Hund is a noun (it refers to a thing, an animal), so it must start with a capital letter: Hund, not hund.

This rule applies to:

• concrete nouns: Hund, Tisch, Auto
• abstract nouns: Liebe, Angst, Freiheit
• nominalized words (verbs/adjectives used as nouns): das Essen, das Gute

Why is it mein Hund and not meine Hund?

German possessive words (mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer, Ihr) change their ending depending on:

1. the gender of the noun
2. the number (singular/plural)
3. the case (nominative, accusative, etc.)

Here:

• Hund is masculine (der Hund).
• It is singular.
• It is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.

For a masculine, singular, nominative noun, you use mein (no extra ending):

• mein Hund – my dog (masculine, nominative)
• meine Katze – my cat (feminine, nominative)
• mein Kind – my child (neuter, nominative)
• meine Hunde – my dogs (plural, nominative)

So mein Hund is the correct form here.

How do I know that Hund is masculine?