"Hallod azokat az almákat?"
Translation:Do you hear those apples?
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Áron and Zsuzsa stood at the stove, preparing the topping for dessert. As they added the sliced apples, the spices, and the honey, the smells of sweet apple filled the kitchen. The pan slowly began to simmer and bubble, making sounds both strange and yet comforting. As the funny bubbling sounds continued, Áron laughed and said to Zsuzsa, "Hallod azokat az almákat?"...at least, that's where my mind went.
Besides being creepy, the sentence doesn't make sense, in that apples are generally silent, causing unnecessary confusion at this stage of language learning (I second guessed that "hallod" meant "hear"). I am finding more than enough legitimate sources of confusion in attempting to learn Hungarian - I don't need more! ;p
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Well, it makes you have to think about it more if it's weird, as well as being easier to remember.
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I disagree and think that confusing translations prove that you understand the actual complexities of the language. Otherwise you could honestly guess your way through the content and think you understand the material.
Is it similar to the English expression "How about them apples?", Said in a somewhat defiant tone, meaning "so, how am I doing now?"
This train of replies has made my day! It is fun to laugh while learning. I am sure the endorphins will increase my learning capacity... and the meaning of "hallod" is firmly entrenched in my brain.
I understand your argument, Joe, but I can't say I agree. To my mind, thinking more about a weird sentence and the subsequent lodging of it firmly in one's memory, is not ultimately that helpful in the more general pursuit of language acquisition. In any case, thanks for taking the time to respond.
I expected "did you hear that those are the apples" as it was the only sentence that made sense in the context of hearing apples. So I agree with your sentiment that the sentence is out of place
Apples falling from a tree? It does make sense, just not the most obvious answer. Makes you think.
Actually, it makes sense to me. When large amount of apples falling from the tree, you can hear the sound they create when they reach the ground. :-B Do u hear those apples??? Woooh!!!
I got this one as a listening exercise and sat here staring at my transcription for a bit trying to decide if there were any chance I was mishearing something because the sentence didn't make a whole lot of sense. However, I remembered some of the strange sentences I encountered in the Italian lessons I've done here and went with it. I'm fine with strange sentences, but the fact that most of the sentences I've seen in the Hungarian lessons so far /haven't/ been made this one feel especially weird.
There's a section in the Tips & Notes about these forms now, a few of them slipped in early!
Hallod is using the defiante article, present tense, first person.
If I am not mistaken, if you were to say "Hallasz almákat", it means "Do you hear apples?" where as "Hallod az almákat" means "Do you hear THE apples?"
I do not think that it is useful to confuse people. This is detrimental as it discourages people who want to learn an already difficult language.
It's much more rewarding to get a sentence like this right than to half-guess whole chapters. What I do agree with, though, is that there are too many sentences like this overall and one needs some "rest" with more practical sentences.
I was tempted to say something clever, but after reading through all the comments, i found it impossible to compose myself long enough from the laughter. I think ZharaFlore's comment is the best. I wosh i could send them to a fellow Hungarian student on DuoLingo. What a great class!
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Yes you definitely need imagination and I like your story. But I also find theze weird sentences confusing because you do not usually hear apples. I think it cannot be right even though it is. Hungarian is a difficult language for me and I find such sentences off putting. I would rather things that were more useful. There are worse examples however in other exercises such as flying cows and kindergarten teachers
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The reason for that is that az/azok is a demonstrative pronoun, not a demonstrative adjective, so you can't squish is directly against a noun. Instead, you have to basically say "those, the apples".
Farida, it seems the word "a/an" (egy) or "the" (a/az) is needed before nouns, even if "these" (ezek) or "those" (azok) is already there. Just a Hungarian rule, I guess, that doesn't translate well to English.
I do understand to need to know grammar out of context, but wait until you get to the "Eight Guinea pigs sitting at the table having lunch". I need sentences that I can use!
I think I said it. There is nothing wrong with these sentences, except for their number. It can simply get tiresome.
And no, I don't think you need "sentences that you can use", apart from formalities like greetings, apologizing, asking for something and such. For the rest, you need vocab and the ability to form sentences on your own.
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I don't find the fun/imaginative sentences tiresome. I find the dull boring unimaginative ones tiresome. They literally put me to sleep.
But I agree 100% with your second paragraph.
The reader speaks quite clear actually. More articulated than native speakers talk with each other in everyday situations.
After all this rant, I still think the problem is not that there is one sentence like this. Or let's suppose, one sentence like this in every chapter. Sanity checks are useful. The problem is that these sentences make almost half of the course and even I am feeling uncomfortable as a native speaker, when I have to be the first one to write certain sentences down in English...
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I WISH they were nearly half the course! Either we are doing different courses or one of us is not that good at fractions.
Next time I'm in Hungary, I should ask random strangers this question. Maybe at a fruit stand.
