"Это - медведь."
Translation:This is a bear.
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A few minutes ago I had to translate "это лев" (This is a lion) and there was no dash. Can anyone explain is there's any difference in meaning or context if theres a dash or not?
I think the dash was there only to denote the verb "to be" in written Russian since it does not use a verb for "to be" like how English does. Perhaps not using a dash was common, because people are lazy? So, they are basically the same.
Maybe to mark the difference between 'this lion' and 'this is a lion'? Please someone correct me if I'm wrong here.
Actually no, there is another difference between 'this lion' an 'this is a lion'. 'это' means 'this is' or 'this' if your noun is neutral. Since lion is masculine in Russian, you need to use another form 'этот'. ('эта' for female nouns)
So to sum up:
'this is a lion' --> 'это лев' or 'это - лев' (no idea about that one^^) 'this lion' --> 'этот лев'
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It should be verb "to be" here. But Russians do not like to use it. The verb "to be" will appear in the interrogative sentence. Это есть медведь = (это - медведь). Медведь есть?
I know that one puts a dash between two nouns if they are equated, but usually not between noun and pronoun. Is this here an exception? Is it common to write "Это - медведь" or would it be more common to write it without the dash?
Should be accepted. In other sentences, 'it' and 'they' are both accepted for это in these constructions.
I hope you reported it.
I only wrote it here. They gave me a "no clutter" report. I'm still getting used to this program. I thought they may check these.
You have to be patient with Duolingo. Remember that it's a free service and the people who made the course are volunteers too. Also, this Russian course is still in beta which means it's getting improved when users like us report errors. Just hit the "Report error" button on the left side and choose the box that suits the bug.
Thanks. Like I said, I'm still getting used to the format and yes, I am thankful for a free language program!
Do you know why there are many sentences without the dashes then?
I hear the pronunciation of bear in this question as медович/medoveech. Shouldn't медведь be pronounced as med-ved?
I herd the same thing thats why i went to discussion to make sure my ears were working right lol
@XWgDObWJ - are you using the mobile app or something? I just checked on desktop, it's fine there. And you're right, it should be medved'.
I had the same problem I repeated the sentence a lot of time and couldn't figure it was the bear
"This is the bear" was marked incorrect for me. I figured that "Это" means "This is" and "Медведь."
Duolingo accepts both "this is a bear" and "that is a bear" but for me the meaning is not the same. How is the same distinction made in Russian?
why is это translated differently every time? sometimes it's "This is" sometimes "That is" or "It is"
If it's essentially a subject of a sentence ("What is it?" - Что это?, or "It is..." - Это ..."), then it will be... "it is". But then it can only be Это. You can also attach it to a noun to indicate "this" or "these", but then it will decline based on the gender, number and case of things it's attached to.
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The ь implies the д is palatalized, but is this actually true in the modern pronunciation of медведь? Maybe it's hard to hear when it's the final sound in a phrase?
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The pronunciation is different then how the word is spelled. Does anyone else hear it differently?
That's a diminutive. For example, you would call a teddy-bear a мишка, not a медведь
Would I be correct in saying that "Это медведь" means "There is a bear" and adding the dash means "It is a bear"?
No, это медведь и это - медведь mean the same exact thing ("It is a bear" or "That is a bear"). The hyphen is added between two nouns or pronouns in the nominative to indicate that one thing is the other thing without combining the two into one.
"There is a bear", depending on the context, would be just "Там медведь" or "там и есть медведь".
As it says это is it,this,or that, why is it not "This Bear? " this is not making sense to me.....or "That Bear? "
"Это" has multiple roles.
It can be a pronoun, like in "I like this/it" (мне это нравится).
It can be a particle meaning "it is" or "this is" or "that is", etc., like in the example phrase here. That's how it is used when there's a dash after it.
One thing those two uses share is that "это" does not change form, no matter if whatever you're talking about is plural, singular, masculine, feminine, or neuter.
When saying "this bear", though, we're need not a pronoun or a particle, but determiner. And that determiner needs to agree with the noun it modifies. Not only that, it is declined! In that case, это is used only for neuter words. Given that медведь is a masculine, you'd need "этот медведь" instead.
I dont understand how there is a "oorich" sound in the end of rhe word for bear. Why is it not "vyed" sound?
howly mowly, is there any difference between using dash or not in this sentence? why don't just use 'это медведь'?
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I was expecting eto but heard etot. It was marked wrong. I have played repeatedly and I still hear t. At the slow speed, though, it is eto.