"这是你的爸爸吗？"

Translation: Is this your father?

[Slade366]

How would you say, Is that your father? Like you're pointing out a person in public?

[awrszu]

Unqualified opinion:
那人是你的爸爸吗
(Is that person your father?)

[EduardoM389522]

You will say
"那是你的爸爸吗"

[stupedfatidiot]

Would you usually say 他是你的爸爸吗?

[JeroenFran11]

I would say dad is as good as father, just a little less formal. Both translations should be right for爸爸

[Fekkezaum]

I'm a bit confused about when we need a counter (个) when using 这.

So the tips section says:

"We also need a measure word after 这 (zhè, this), 那 (nà, that) and 哪 (nǎ, which)"

However the sentence in this exercise is:

这是你的爸爸吗？(no counter)

If I translate that to English with Google Translate (not a good source of truth, I know) it does translate to:

"Is this your father?"

Just for the sake of it I tried to translate this:

这个人是你的父亲吗？

And that is translated to:

Is this man your father?

Which does makes sense. So this is my theory, please correct me if I'm wrong:

这, just like the word "this" in English, can be used either as a pronoun (I like this / This is good) or a determiner (I like this thing / This book is good). If it's used as a pronoun (for example acting as a subject or object), then it doesn't need the counter, whereas if it act as a determiner (modifies a noun) then you need the counter between 这 and the noun.

Am I right?

If that is the case then I think the lesson's tips should be rephrased a bit.

[Olgi_Tawakhal]

"Is this your papa ?" Incorrect?

[Saicixx]

What is difference of 这 and 那?

[GryTea]

这: this

那: that

[Joseph371264]

Isn't 的 optional? 我爸爸 我的爸爸?

[etoal19-duolingo]

Yes, especially for close family members.