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- Topic: Hungarian >
- "Nem tudsz eleget."
32 Comments
Oh, it gets harsher, believe me. Eventually they just flat-out tell you hülye vagytok!
I think the ultimate translation would be "Nem tudsz te semmit, Hó János" :D
His name was translated to Havas Jon in the Hungarian version.
"Nem tudsz te semmit, Havas Jon."
If you translate them, ismersz seems to refer to people/things, "ismersz" itself would be "you know me" while "tudsz" just - "you know".
In some languages these are indeed two different verbs, for example: PL "wiedzieć" - to know as in terms of knowledge, to be aware of and "znać" - to know someone/something (although they can be used almost interchangably).
I may be wrong though ; )
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768
Én tudok - I can / I know
Te tudsz - You can / You know
Én tudom - I know it
Te tudod - You know it
The former two are of indefinite conjugation. With those you can express general things you know or abilities to do something:
- Tudok valamit, amit nem tudsz. - I know something you don't know.
- Arról tudok. - I know of/about that.
- Tudsz táncolni. - You can dance/You know how to dance.
The other two are of definite conjugation. You can say that you know something certain. You use definite conjugation always when you have a definite direct object, or such an object is implied.
- Azt tudom, amiért nem repülnek a disznók. - I know why pigs do not fly.
- Tudod a választ? - Do you know the answer?
- "Szeretlek." .. "Tudom." - "I love you." .. "I know (that)."
I read all the postings, but let me see if I get this straight, because it has been confusing me. "To know" and "to be able to" is the same verb in Hungarian?
- 768
Yes, for the most part. There's also a second way to realise "to be able to" and that's attaching the suffix -het/-hat to a verb. Mostly used as adjectives. For example:
- lát (to see) - láthat (to be able to see) - látható (visible)
- olvas (to read) - olvashat (to be able to read) - olvasható (readable)
Also the popular lehet ((to be) possible) is such a form - from lenni (to be), making it literally mean "may be".
There is a slight difference in meaning between tud and -hat/-het. Tud means "to know" mostly, so it's a "being able" as in "knowing how to do that". -hat/-het, on the other hand, is a more objective "being physically able to". It's not a very strict distinction, though.
I'd say -hat/-het isn't about ability but more about chance. It's possible for him to do that - because he is let to do that and other circumstances don't rule out the possibility either.
I also wouldn't mix "know how to do that" there. If you are able to do something, it's fair to assume you know how to do it but I can assure you if anyone wanted to say "I know how to swim" precisely, they'd say "Tudom, hogy kell úszni". "Tudok úszni" doesn't really leave space for ambiguity with can vs know any more than "I can swim" does.
Could this also translate to " you can't know enough," even though this gives a different meaning to the phrase?
- 768
No, that doesn't exactly work. Tud can mean "can" or "know", but not both at once.
"You can't know enough" leads me to two different interpretations. First, the literal one, as in "You can't possibly know enough to pass this test." In this meaning, I would translate your sentence as "Nem tudhatsz eleget." Tudhat is "to be able to know". There's a Hungarian poem that uses this verb in the first line:
Nem tudhatom, hogy másnak e tájék mit jelent
I cannot know what this region means to others
The other possibility would be a more idiomatic interpretation, like "You can never know enough". This is using an impersonal "you", so it won't be conjugated for te in a Hungarian translation. Instead, you make an impersonal construction, for example by using lehet: Nem lehet eleget tudni. - It is not possible to know enough.
Wow, thank you! That really does clarify the usage. I just hope I can remember it all.
Well, at some point I will.
- 768
You can see it, and you could use it. As in "You are not familiar with enough places/people/etc."
