Thread: Есть ( - ) & Это

Originally Posted by ShakeyX

Just came across the sentence; Яблоки - это вид фруктов. I understand it to mean Apples are a type of fruit however I then thought, isn't it possible to write the exact same sentence using;

Яблоки - вид фруктов
-or-
Яблоки вид фруктов

This is mainly a question of style rather than grammar, so I will leave it to native speakers. However, my general understanding is that leaving out the это or есть or [--] entirely is mainly done when the the subject is a pronoun, such as Он врач ("He is a doctor") or Это яблоки ("These are apples").

But if the subject is a noun, it's better to use the long dash (or double hyphen) in writing:
Этот мужчина -- врач ("This man is a doctor.)

Also, есть is particularly likely to be used if the subject and predicate are the same: A есть А ("A is A," if you were translating Atlas Shrugged into Russian, God help you), or Мальчик есть мальчик ("A boy is a boy", in the sense of "It's a boy's nature to act like a boy", which can also be expressed with Мальчик мальчиком, putting the predicate in the instrumental.)

Originally Posted by ShakeyX

On a side note: a lot of other languages tend to make a distinction between "a" and "the" such as a car means any car but the car means is used when a particular car is the subject, how do you make this distinction in Russian or is that purely left down to этот

This is a bit complicated, but one way to distinguish "a" from "the" (at least in some contexts) is by word-order, since new information is often placed at the end of a sentence in Russian, and by definition, "the" refers to something already mentioned, and hence "not new." For instance:

"I made a sandwich. Then I ate the sandwich." (or "Then I ate it.")
Я приготовил бутерброд. Потом я бутерброд съел. (or Потом я его съел.)

Related to this word-order issue -- since pronouns, by definition, also refer to a noun already mentioned and thus aren't new info, typically a pronoun-object doesn't go at the end of the sentence. Я спорил с Наташой ("I argued with Natasha"), but Я с ней спорил ("I argued with her").

P.S. Just as a cultural note, бутерброд almost invariably refers to an "open-face" sandwich. So one slice of хлеб with a slice of ветчина ("ham") on top of it is a бутерброд, but ham between two pieces of bread is a сандвич or сендвич or сэндвич.

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Also, есть is particularly likely to be used if the subject and predicate are the same: A есть А ("A is A," if you were translating Atlas Shrugged into Russian, God help you), or Мальчик есть мальчик ("A boy is a boy", in the sense of "It's a boy's nature to act like a boy", which can also be expressed with Мальчик мальчиком, putting the predicate in the instrumental.)

Is that last bit sort of like Boys "will be" boys, with the will be omitted. As I know that Быть in the past or future causes the nominal predicate to decline to the instrumental case? right?

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

P.S. Just as a cultural note, бутерброд almost invariably refers to an "open-face" sandwich. So one slice of хлеб with a slice of ветчина ("ham") on top of it is a бутерброд, but ham between two pieces of bread is a сандвич or сендвич or сэндвич.

бутерброд originally comes from German word Butterbrot which means bread and butter. Novadays бутерброд means bread with something on top: it can be meat, fish, caviar, cheese, jam, honey, butter etc. or a combination