Learn Spanish (Spain): Mi perro tiene la cabeza grande y el cuerpo pequeño. - My dog has a large head and a small body.

When describing body parts, Spanish uses definite articles like el or la (the) instead of words like "a", "my", or "his". So, while English says "a large head", Spanish says the dog has "the large head" (la cabeza grande).

Why is the word order cabeza grande instead of grande cabeza?

In Spanish, descriptive words (adjectives) usually come right after the thing they describe (the noun). Therefore, "large head" is cabeza grande (head large) and "small body" is cuerpo pequeño (body small).

Why does pequeño end in an "o" but grande ends in an "e"?

Adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. Cuerpo is a masculine word, so it uses the masculine ending -o for pequeño. However, adjectives that end in -e in their base form, like grande, are used for both masculine and feminine nouns, so it doesn't change to match the feminine word cabeza.

Why do we use tiene to describe the dog instead of a word for "is"?

We use tiene, which comes from the verb tener (to have), because we are talking about the specific body parts the dog possesses. If you were describing the whole dog, you would use the verb for "to be", as in mi perro es pequeño (my dog is small).