8 Comments
I see both "nothing" and "anything" listed as translations for "semmit." I take it that "anything" only works in a sentence like this that's negative. If the sentence were positive, would I use "valami(t)" for "anything"?
"semmi" means "nothing." Hungarian uses double negatives with words like nothing, nobody, nowhere, etc. So this sentence says "I am not waiting for nothing," but in English we don't use negative, so you translate it as "anything" instead.
Indeed, I knew that much. What I'm wondering is, if a sentence were positive, would "anything" translate to "valami(t)"?
I don't think it's that big of a difference, but "vala" is a little closer to "some"
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valami- something
-
valaki- someone
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valahol- somewhere
To get "any," "bár" is a little closer:
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bármi- anything
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bárki- anyone
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bárhol- anywhere
To answer your question though, yes. Never use "se-" in a positive sentence.
I think "valami" could be used like "anything" in the sense of "Is there anything/something you need?" On the other hand, "bármi" is more like anything as in "it doesn't matter what." What do you think?
Thanks for the answers, by the way. :D
I'm not a native speaker so I can't give the best answer. This is the page I've used most in my studies
"It doesn't matter what," in my opinion, would best be translated as "Ez mindegy." Mindegy is like the German "egal."
You should also keep in mind the distinction Hungarian makes between some/any could be and probably is different than how English speakers make the distinction. So when you want to say "anything," even though "valami" is "something," it could be the better option.
I wasn't asking for a literal translation; I just meant that "bármi" is used in that sense.
Thanks for the link. ^_^
