"Jsou to rodiny bez otců."

Translation: They are families without fathers.

[Tom9738]

why to and not ty???

[VladaFu]

Jsou to / to jsou is used in the same way as to je / je to. The pronoun is always TO and it means these, those, they... or this, that, it...

It is used when the predicate includes a noun or pronoun: Je to dům. To je velký hoch. To jsou oni. Jsme to my. Jsou to rodiny.

Please distinguish that from the demonstratives used as attributes:

ten dům, to dítě, ty rodiny - that house, that child, those families

That is a very different kind of grammar.

[Kerflumpy]

"It is used when the predicate includes a noun or pronoun: Je to dům. To je velký hoch. To jsou oni. Jsme to my. Jsou to rodiny."

So how do we translate these phrases? Je to dum = "It is A house / THE house / THAT house..."?
I got this sentence wrong because I put "They are the families without fathers."

[PlasticBiddy]

The English translation I see is, "These are"

[VladaFu]

Yes, that is also a correct translation.

[Matej69.420]

They are the families without fathers is an unaccepted english translation because... specificity?

[VladaFu]

specificity indeed

[Matej69.420]

Thanks :) i made the same mistake and saw your reply so now ill write it down so i remember

[Veronika912016]

Please, why is the sentence "they are the families without fathers?" wrong? Thanks.