Use of the word 'das' in German

[HrishikaJa1]

What is the use of the word 'das' in the sentence 'Das ist ein Junge'. Shouldn't it be 'der' since Junge is a masculine noun?

[deactivated user]

"Das" in that sentence means "That", it's not related to the gender of the word. "THAT is a boy".

"Junge" is indeed masculine.

[jzsuzsi]

Das ist ein Junge = That is a boy.

In this case, when used as "that", das remains das.

[npLam]

Maybe you could justify it by thinking: Was ist das (Ding)? Das (Ding) ist ein Junge.