Перед домом есть маленькая клумба.

There is a small flowerbed in front of the house.

Breakdown of Перед домом есть маленькая клумба.

• дом: the house
• маленький: small
• перед: in front of
• клумба: the flowerbed

Questions & Answers about Перед домом есть маленькая клумба.

Why is it перед домом and not перед дом or перед доме?

Because the preposition перед normally requires the instrumental case when it means in front of / before in a spatial sense.

So:

• дом = nominative
• доме = prepositional
• домом = instrumental

That is why you get перед домом.

A useful pattern to remember:

• перед школой = in front of the school
• перед машиной = in front of the car
• перед окном = in front of the window

So in this sentence, перед домом is simply in front of the house.

What exactly does есть mean here?

Here есть means there is / there exists.

In this sentence, it is not the same as the English verb to eat, even though есть can also mean to eat in other contexts.

So:

• Перед домом есть маленькая клумба = There is a small flowerbed in front of the house

Russian often uses есть to introduce the existence of something, especially when presenting new information.

Compare:

• На столе есть книга = There is a book on the table.
• У меня есть брат = I have a brother.
  (literally: At me there is a brother.)