Его мечта — открыть свою маленькую пекарню.

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Breakdown of Его мечта — открыть свою маленькую пекарню.

• открыть: to open
• пекарня: the bakery
• его: his

Questions & Answers about Его мечта — открыть свою маленькую пекарню.

Why is there a dash (—) instead of “is”?

In the present tense, Russian usually omits the verb “to be.” A dash often marks the link between subject and predicate when both are nouns or an infinitive phrase:

• Его мечта — открыть… = His dream is to open… You’ll also hear/see: Его мечта — это открыть… (more colloquial/emphatic). Writing without the dash (Его мечта открыть…) occurs but the dash is preferred for clarity. Don’t use есть here in modern style.

Can I say “Он мечтает открыть свою маленькую пекарню” instead?

Yes. Его мечта — открыть… (His dream is to open…) and Он мечтает открыть… (He dreams of opening…) are both natural. The first uses a noun phrase; the second uses the verb мечтать.

Why is it свою and not его before “пекарню”?

Свой is the reflexive possessive “one’s own.” Use it when the possessor is the subject of the clause; it avoids ambiguity.

• открыть свою пекарню = open his own bakery (subject = the owner).
• открыть его пекарню can sound like “open his (some other man’s) bakery,” or at least is ambiguous.

But the grammatical subject is мечта, not “he.” How can свою refer to him?

In infinitival clauses, свой typically refers to the logical subject (the understood doer of the infinitive). Here, the understood doer of открыть is “he,” so correctly points back to him.