"Rats are small."

Translation: चूहे छोटे होते हैं ।

[JillRiepe]

So what does adding the होते do for the meaning? Or is it just a style thing?

[vinay92]

होते हैं is used when you are making generalisations or talking about universal truths.

When you say चूहे छोटे हैं, you may be talking about some particular rats that are small.

चूहे छोटे होते हैं means that you are making a general statement about rats as a species.

[SBIJU]

What is the correct answer ??....Im including "hothi" and it's showing wrong answer...

[vinay92]

You would use होती for feminine nouns. Since चूहे is a masculine plural noun, you need to use होते.

[sravani32106]

May be "chuhey" is plural form of rat i.e., chuha =rat and chuhey= rats so at the same time the word "hothey" should also be plural while "hothi" can be used for a single rat.