This will be interpreted by the browser if you give your element does two class:
.class1.class2{width:500px;height:300px;}
<div class="class1 class2"> </div>
If you do like this, it will not be interpreted, resulting on a div with no styles:
.class1.class2{width:500px;height:300px;}
<div class="class2"> </div>
This will be interpreted (resulting on an element with a dimension of 500px X 300px:
.class1 {width:500px;}
.class2 {height:300px;}
<div class="class1 class2"> </div>
The common use of css, is to tell the browser that a certain element with and ID or CLASS of a certain name will get a set of styles, or tell the browser that a certain ID or CLASS will get a set of Styles, like so:
Ex 1:
.class1 {width:500px;} -> elements
with this class will get 500px of
width.
Ex 2:
div.class1 {width:500px;}
-> only a
div element with this class will get
500px of width.
Ex 3:
div.class1, h1.class1 {width:500px;}
-> only a div and a h1 element with this class will get 500px of width.
You can read valid information about css at:
W3C CSS SYNTAX PAGE