Ngựa ở gần nhà.

The horse is near the house.

Breakdown of Ngựa ở gần nhà.

• nhà: the house
• ở: at
• gần: near
• ngựa: the horse

Questions & Answers about Ngựa ở gần nhà.

What is the word-by-word breakdown of Ngựa ở gần nhà?

A natural breakdown is:

• ngựa = horse
• ở = to be located at / to be in a place
• gần = near
• nhà = house / home

So the structure is basically:

• ngựa
  • ở gần
    • nhà
• subject + location phrase

Even if you already know the full meaning, it helps to see that Vietnamese often builds simple location sentences very directly.

Why is there no separate word for is in this sentence?

Vietnamese often does not use a word exactly like English is in the same way.

In English, we say The horse is near the house.
In Vietnamese, location is often expressed with ở, which already handles the idea of being located somewhere.

So instead of needing a separate copula plus a preposition, Vietnamese can simply say:

• ngựa ở gần nhà

That is completely normal Vietnamese structure.

What exactly does ở mean here?

Here, ở marks location. It often means things like:

• to be at
• to stay at
• to live at
  depending on context

In this sentence, it does not mean live. It just shows where the horse is located.

So ở gần nhà means something like:

• is near the house
• is located near the house