"Jsou to noví lidé."

Translation: They are new people.

[arkelley71]

Can this be translated into "Those are new people" as well as They are new people. Because of the Czech demonstrative "to" is used in this sentence.

[ion1122]

A few thoughts you may find helpful.

1. Remember to distinguish between a demonstrative pronoun and a demonstrative adjective. For example 'those are young boys' (pronoun) vs. 'those boys are young' (adjective). In English the same word 'those' is used for both, but in Czech different words or different forms are used for each.

2. In Czech, the singular 'to' can be used even when talking about plural items. So, for example, the Czech sentence here, "Jsou to noví lidé", is literally "It are new people." In any case, remembering my first point above, here "to" is a pronoun, not an adjective.

3. When translating a Czech plural demonstrative adjective, the choices in addition to 'those' include 'the' (those boys = the boys).

4. But when translating the Czech demonstrative pronoun, the choices in addition to 'those' include 'they' (those are boys = they are boys).

[ValaCZE]

Yes, "they, those and these are" all this is correct translation.

To je/je to - It/this/that is
To jsou/jsou to - they,those, these are

[imdumby]

I don't think there is a situation in English where I would actually say "those are new" instead of "they are new" when speaking of people. If inanimate objects were the subject I would use "those"

[arkelley71]

I see where you are coming from. I guess one could say "Those are new students" or "Those are new employees"? (I would think "students" and "employees" are animate) but the word "new" is being used as an adjective in these cases.

[bastian.rom]

What about 'Those are the new humans', isn't this phrase also valid?

[VladaFu]

To jsou ti noví lidé. A different sentence. And using humans is really strange outside of some sci-fi contexts,

[SGuthrie0]

"Humans" is very strange, as Vlada says.

[Tiko_Czech]

Why ? If "jsou" first word, it should be question sentence, not?

[AgnusOinas]

Both "to je" and "je to" (and plural "jsou") can be statements as well as questions.

If you need a more in-depth explanation: the personal pronoun "oni" is present in the sentence but left unexpressed. The complete sentence is: "Oni jsou to noví lidé" - you can see how that doesn't have to be a question.

[Gavin753673]

I understand that "jsou to" and "to jsou" can bet pretty interchangeable, but are there certain times where it makes sense to use one over the other?

[VladaFu]

To jsou is better when pointing at something you spotted.

Jsou to is better when talking about the topic of the current ongoing discussion.

[EstaJohnst1]

I am really struggling when to use a 'y' or an 'I'
matching noun? or adjective? Masculine, feminine ?

[VladaFu]

See tips and Notes in the Adjectives skill (on the web click on the lightbulb).

Nominative case:
masc. animate: noví lidé/páni/muži
masc. inanimate: nové hrady/stroje
feminine: nové ženy/dívky/děti
neuter: nová města/děvčata

[Gilbert334611]

May be, I'm a bit stupid, but don't see why it couldn't be a question: Are the people new?

[AgnusOinas]

It could be – if there was a question mark at the end.

[514dHoLL]

What's the singular of LIDE?
Osoba, clovek?

[VladaFu]

člověk

osoba is a person, osoby are persons