"A father is a man."

Translation: Папа — это мужчина.

[Puddleglum]

Why can is not be папа - мужчина?

[Shady_arc]

Why? We've got that, too.

[bright_flash]

I think it should be accepted, though adding "это" sounds better for my Russian ear for this sentence. :)

[pogotc]

Why does это make it sound better? It never occurred to me to add that.

[bright_flash]

Personal preferences, perhaps? :) Both sentences are correct though. As I stated somewhere before, "это" very often makes a sentence feel more "complete".

[Hojinkie]

It worked for me.

[epicboak]

Would "Папа ето мужчина" still be grammatically correct? What is the significance of the dash?

[PcAiden]

Only if you want to say it in a way like 'Dad, he is a man'. If you want convey the fact that dad is a man you usually use 'Папа мужчина'.

[JuliannaBethlen]

i don't understand why the hint says est' yet it's not the correct answer for is.

[aphstefa]

Neither was ‘nahoditsya’....

[dlisol]

It accepted отец - мужчина which pleased me, but would you really translate the generic abstract "a father" with the rather specific personal "Папа" ?

[SiblingCreature]

Good question. I would have expected папа to be "dad" with a more formal word for "father". ( like in French, papa vs père )

[AlecTuchsc]

Why do they use dashes?

[Caleb160466]

I belive it's because the russian equivalent, "является," for "is", is not required to be in a sentence. It can be replaced with the dash, "это," or a space. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

[patpizio]

That's the way of translating "is a"

[javierelpianista]

Why couldn't it be папа есть мужчина?

[Jacob667092]

Because есть means eats. That would be father eats men.

[Theron126]

That's not true, actually. "Есть" is the infinitive "to eat", but it's also the present tense form of "быть" - to be, so it actually can be translated as "is" sometimes. Javi is trying to use "есть" in this meaning. It doesn't work just because that isn't how Russian works, I can't really explain why.

Father eats men would be "папа есть мужчин".

[NRZnE]

It's not incorrect, but it would sound awkward. "Быть"(to be) nowadays is usually omitted in the present tense.

Она была здесь.(She was here)
Она здесь.(She is here)
Она будет здесь.(She will be here)

Карандаш здесь.(The pencil is here)
Здесь есть карандаш.(There is a pencil here)

It could be used in formal speech, in some cases when omission would change the meaning of the sentence, to spice up informal speech(not randomly, you have to know if it works).

[PalaeoJoe]

Why can't "этот" be used instead of "это". I tried to use "этот" in this sentence because I thought the masculine form would be appropriate for a statement about a male person.

[SiblingCreature]

I believe that would change the meaning to "The father is this man".

[Theron126]

You might find this helpful https://www.duolingo.com/comment/11536858

[Minjdude]

What is the difference and in what cases is the word "Это" and "Этот"???

[Theron126]

Try olimo's guide for an explanation: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/11536858

[Tomer_K]

What is the difference between Это and Этот?

[Tomer_K]

What is the difference between "это" and "этот"?

[Marvjos]

What??? I got confused

[midnightS1]

Это vs этот whats the difference?

[sp.ark]

Отец - человек wasn't accepted, but it has much more meaning that the obvious...