Breakdown of Пятьсот метров — это недалеко.
это
this / it is
недалеко
not far, nearby
метр
metre
пятьсот
five hundred
Questions & Answers about Пятьсот метров — это недалеко.
Why does метров end in -ов?
After numbers 5 and higher (like пятьсот), Russian requires the following noun to be in the genitive plural. Метр is a masculine noun ending in a hard consonant, so it takes the -ов ending to become метров.
How is the number пятьсот formed?
It literally means "five of hundreds". It is made by combining пять (five) and сот, which is the genitive plural of сто (one hundred). You will see this same pattern for all hundreds from 500 up to 900.
Why is there a dash and the word это in the middle of the sentence?
Russian does not use a present-tense verb for "is". When you want to say that a concept equals another, or to give an evaluation, you often use a dash followed by это (this is). Here, it connects the distance (five hundred meters) to its description (not far).
Why is недалеко written as one word instead of не далеко?
You write недалеко as one word when it acts as a single concept meaning "close" or "nearby". You would only separate it into two words if you were making a direct contrast in the sentence, such as "not far, but actually very close".