"यह मकान पुराना है।"

Translation: This house is old.

[RaleighStarbuck]

Hmm, it seems that synonyms are starting to creep into the lessons... what is the difference between the heretofore-taught word घर and this newly-introduced word मकान?

[emrys29]

घर refers to home while मकान generally means a house or a building.

[Sninguistics]

I thought it was just Hindi/Urdu differences, huh...

[JessicaSte554038]

You are right. However they marked it wrong when I wrote 'This building is old'.

[SteveHaley4]

Could this be translated as 'building'?

[JamesLocht]

Makan has a wides semantic field that certainly includes building. Because in fact a house is a building

[ErfanRezamand]

मकान makan مکان is a persian loanword but with an arabic root

[JessicaSte554038]

Even though they are not accepting the answer, मकान could mean a building or a shelter. घर means house/home.