"The pencil is short."

Translation: 연필이 짧습니다.

[Patrick_nugu]

Why can't it be 연필이 작습니다?

[linguisticalness]

That would be 'small' not 'short'

[Cabe82]

짧아 is not possible?

[pugsnroses7]

it is possible, and it is a more casual verb ending. the "습니다" that duolingo uses is the very polite form used around people much older than you, around strangers, and in formal situations, and the "아" is the casual form used around people younger than you. the "아요" you will also eventually encounter is used around people you know, but are older than you

[kochida]

Can someone romantization the korean word for short

[aalnnnn]

yeonpiri jjalbseubnida

[Deionrei]

jab-ssum-ni-da

[pugsnroses7]

shouldnt they use the topic marker "은" rather than the object marker "이"?

[upasanasah2]

'은' is used for plural forms. While '이' is used for singular.

[ErissonB.B]

No, 는/은 are topic markers and 이/가 are subject markes. If you want to put a word on plural you have to put 들 after a word

[dipagssi]

Will 연필이 키가 작습니다 be accepted for this particular sentence?