"Это ваши дети?"
Translation:Are these your children?
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"Are they your children" was not accepted. Is this the 'Это' vs 'Эти' thing that I keep forgetting about, or should this be considered an acceptable translation?
Ah. Okay, so it's Они vs Это in this case. Great. That means I understand even less of this language than I thought I did. :) Thank you for the comment, Larisa! Back to the drawing/practiceboard I go.. :)
It terms of actual meaning, the 2 sentences are very close, but there is a difference. Это твои дети? Is a good questions if you point to some kids on a photo, for instance. On the other hand asking Они твои дети? would make sense if you discussed some people, and you come to the conclusion that they might be his children. So there is a difference in seeing someone and understanding the status of someone.
In terms of technical translation, it is quite simple to distinguish, they - они.
Russian unchangeable word это, on the other hand is normally translated as:
- it, that, this is
- these, those are
Спасибо, Ларйса. :)
I guess that makes sense. In English, the difference between "those children over there" and "the people/children we are discussing" can both be pointed out with "are they" where context would make it clear what you are referring to.
I'm going to try and remember this, but I'm not making any promises. :)
I don't understand how это is being used in a plural sense here. Isn't there a plural version, and if so, why isn't it being used here?
No, here we have an invariable particle, which you confuse with the pronoun этот and its forms это, эта, эти. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D1%8D%D1%82%D0%BE
Let me give you some examples, which might help you to see the difference. The word этот (and its forms эта, это, эти) is normally used in front of the object it describes (in some cases the object is omitted but implied). The invariable word это is used on its own. Compare the following sets of sentences:
- This cat is mine, and this one is yours. - Эта кошка - моя, а эта (кошка) - твоя.
- This house is mine, and this one is yours. - Этот дом - мой, а этот - твой.
- This bucket is mine, and this one is yours. - Это ведро - моё, а это - твоё.
- These buckets are mine, and these ones are yours. - Эти вёдра - мои, а эти - твои.
- This is my cat, and this is yours. = Это - моя кошка, а это - твоя.
- This is my house, and this is yours. = Это - мой дом, а это - твой.
- This is my bucket, and this is yours. Это - моё ведро, а это - твоё.
- These are my buckets, and these are yours. Это - мои вёдра, а это - твои.
Compare how in the first set the word этот has different forms, and how in the second set there is only one form это.
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Thank you so much! I was really struggling with this for some time and your examples here have helped me with a big breakthrough! :)
'Are these children yours?' why doesn't this work? I feel like it should
Pronunciation question regarding дети. Is my understanding correct that the и here serves to soften the preceding T, and therefore that the resulting [i] sound should be a bit farther back in the mouth than it would be if the и were initial, maybe more like ы? I am trying to get to grips with some of the finer points of phonetics early on so I don't establish bad habits. Thanks for any input.
Would it be wrong to say эти дети ваши? Translating to are these children yours?
