"हाथी बड़ा होता है ।"

Translation: An elephant is big.

[BriannaBir4]

why do you need "hota"? Why couldn't you just say "Hathi bara hai"?

[TheModerateMan]

Because it's making a general statement about what a typical elephant is like, not one particular elephant. The meaning is closer to "An elephant is [a] big [animal]."

[ForceBru]

"An" elephant should be "एक हाथी", to my mind...

[emrys29]

Articles are not mandatory in Hindi.

[ruckboos]

It sounds like the English translation is incorrect, then.

[vj-]

Either that or also accept "The elephant is big" as an alternative answer. I believe it's correct, depending on context - certainly in informal speech. Having said that, this course has really highlighted how lax my grammar has become, so I could be wrong - I alledgedly speak Hindi as a 2nd language at home (to English) regularly.

[Anamika727554]

Ya it's true

[gene381346]

Not a hindi speaker but I think it wants to say "elephants are usually big"

[ValekFilip]

As होता is for generalisation... shouldn't "(the) elephants are big" be accepted too?

[jimmyjames653142]

"The" is used for specific items that youre talking about, thus it wouldnt be a generalization.

[William80638]

what finction does "हाेता" serve?

[Adhira500368]

I can't understand why hota is needed here...pls explain

[Mitaaksha]

Wrong, correct translation would be- Elephants are usually big.
होता refers to a situation or a thing that usually exists.
Like 'This happens' translates to 'ऐसा होता है ।'

[jmuhammad]

Shouldn't it be "Hotee" ?

[ph.n3S4q8]

What are you tell