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Questions & Answers about La casa es bonita.
Why is la used instead of el?
In Spanish, nouns have grammatical gender (masculine or feminine). Casa is a feminine noun, so we use the feminine definite article la.
Why do we say es instead of está?
We use es for permanent or fundamental characteristics, while está is generally used for temporary states or locations. In this sentence, es indicates that being pretty is a characteristic of the house rather than a temporary state.
What does bonita mean, and why is it ending in "-a"?
Bonita means pretty or beautiful. The suffix -a agrees with feminine nouns like casa. If the noun was masculine, for example coche (car), we would use the masculine form bonito.
Is there a plural form?
Yes. For plural, you would say Las casas son bonitas, which means “The houses are pretty.” Note that both the article (las) and the adjective (bonitas) adjust to match the plural and feminine form of casas.
Do I have to change the form of the adjective if I use a different noun?
It depends on the gender and number of the noun. For a masculine and singular noun like el perro (the dog), you would say El perro es bonito. If you change it to plural feminine, like las bicicletas, it becomes Las bicicletas son bonitas.