Mein Hund ist klein.

My dog is small.

Breakdown of Mein Hund ist klein.

• sein: to be
• der Hund: the dog
• mein: my
• 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?

Unfortunately, German noun gender is mostly something you must learn together with the noun.

A good habit is to always learn nouns with their article:

• der Hund (masculine)
• die Katze (feminine)
• das Pferd (neuter)

There are some patterns (for example, many nouns ending in -er, -en, -el are masculine), but they’re not reliable enough on their own. So whenever you learn Hund, learn it as der Hund to remember it’s masculine.

Does Hund being masculine mean the dog is male?

No. Grammatical gender is not the same as biological sex.

• der Hund is the generic word for dog (any dog, male or female).
• If you specifically want to say a female dog, you can say die Hündin.

But in everyday speech, Germans often use Hund for any dog and then clarify with context if needed. So mein Hund could be male or female in reality; the word’s grammatical gender stays masculine.

Why is there no word for “the” before Hund, like in “the my dog”?

In German, you do not combine a possessive like mein with a definite article like der. You choose one or the other.

• der Hund – the dog
• mein Hund – my dog
  Not: der mein Hund or der Hund von mir (the latter is grammatically possible but unusual and sounds clumsy here).

So mein Hund already includes the idea of “the”; you don’t add a separate der.

Why is the word order Mein Hund ist klein and not like English “is my dog small”?

German main clauses have a strong verb-second (V2) rule:

1. Some element in the first position (here: Mein Hund – the subject).
2. The conjugated verb in the second position (here: ist).
3. Everything else after that (here: klein).

So:
Mein Hund (1) ist (2) klein (rest).

You can put something else first (for emphasis), but the verb still stays second:

• Heute ist mein Hund klein. – Today my dog is small.
  Order changed, but ist is still in the second position.

Why is it klein and not kleiner or kleines?

There are two main ways adjectives work in German:

1. Predicate adjective – after a verb like sein (to be), werden (to become), bleiben (to remain):

   • Mein Hund ist klein. – My dog is small.
   • Das Haus ist alt. – The house is old.
     In this use, the adjective has no extra ending: klein, alt, müde, etc.

2. Attributive adjective – directly in front of a noun:

   • Mein kleiner Hund – my small dog.
   • Das alte Haus – the old house.

Here the adjective takes an ending (-er, -e, -es, -en, ...) depending on gender, number, case, and the article/possessive.

In Mein Hund ist klein, klein is a predicate adjective (it comes after ist), so it has no ending.

What case is Mein Hund in, and how can I tell?

Mein Hund is in the nominative case, because it is the subject of the sentence – the thing that “is small.”

You can usually recognize the nominative by:

• It answers “who or what?” is doing or being something.
• With singular nouns, you see the base article:
  • der Hund (masculine nominative)
  • die Katze (feminine nominative)
  • das Haus (neuter nominative)

And with possessives:

• mein Hund (masculine nominative)
• meine Katze (feminine nominative)

Here, who/what is small? – Mein Hund → subject → nominative.

Why is it ist and not ist ist or another form of sein?

Ist is the 3rd person singular form of the verb sein (to be):

• ich bin – I am
• du bist – you are (informal singular)
• er/sie/es ist – he/she/it is
• wir sind – we are
• ihr seid – you are (informal plural)
• sie/Sie sind – they are / you are (formal)

Mein Hund is grammatically like er (he/it), so you use the er/sie/es form: ist.

So: Mein Hund ist klein. → My dog is small.

Could I say Er ist klein instead of Mein Hund ist klein?

Yes, if it is clear from context who er refers to.

For example:

• Mein Hund heißt Max. Er ist klein.
  – My dog is called Max. He is small.

Once you have introduced Mein Hund, you can continue with er (he). But if the dog hasn’t been mentioned yet, Er ist klein alone would be unclear: who is “he”?

Is Mein Hund ist klein more like a neutral description or can it sound emotional?

On its own, Mein Hund ist klein is neutral – it simply states a fact: My dog is small.

Tone and context can make it sound:

• affectionate: said with a warm voice, maybe with a smile
• complaining: if someone wanted a big guard dog
• proud/cute: if you like that your dog is small

Grammatically it’s neutral; emotion comes from how and when it’s used, not from the structure itself.