24 Comments
Thank you! I was just about to ask about that. So the sentence means something more like "The salesman is walking (around) there."
Yes, when they are stressed. 'Az eladó sétál ott.' is perfectly correct - this time your message is that it is the shop assistant, not anyone else, who is walking over there.
An "eladó" is usually a sales person, sales clerk. Or the seller in a transaction.
A "vendor" is a bit different. For a street vendor, I would say "árus". Street vendor - "utcai árus", cotton candy vendor - "vattacukor árus", hot dog vendor - "hot dog árus".
In business terminology, the vendor is "szállító".
A vending machine is "automata". If it is a coffee vending machine, then "kávéautomata", etc.
"Eladó" is also used for something that is for sale. You can see it on signs:
"This house is for sale" - "Ez a ház eladó".
I sort of disagree with the translation of eladó being salesclerk, as it is more like vendor / seller. Salesclerk should be elárusitó.
'salesclerk' has been suggested by the users of this course on countless occasions. I do agree with you, however, that this is not exactly the same as 'eladó', just too close not to accept it. Actually Duo accepts many more solutions.
I've changed their order, thus at least 'salesclerk' is not the very first now. Thanks!
I'm bout to get pissed off. Can someone, just for the record, tell me the difference between van and ott? Ott is a place and van is a state of being?
That's a great observation.
'The salesclerk is there' = 'Az eladó ott van.' --> the verb is 'is' = 'van', expressing the state of being. 'The salesclerk walks there' = 'Az eladó ott sétál' --> the verb is 'walk' = 'sétál'.
Remember that these sentences are senseless without a verb.
Quite independently from what the verb is, one can complement a sentence with where exactly the action takes place ad libitum:
'there' = 'ott'.
These concepts are not different from those in English.
Ott shows a location -> there Here would be 'itt'. Van is the verb 'to be' (in hungarian 'lenni'), conjugated for present tense, third person singular -> she / he is.
What if something is "for sale". For example, It is often I see "eladó" billboards on houses for sale. On that case, does it actually mean "for sale" (the house) or does it mean "the one who sells it" ( the telephone number to call)
What you see on the billboards is short for 'Ez a ház eladó.' ('This house is for sale.') Here 'eladó' is an adjective, and actually the predicative of the sentence. In the example above 'Az eladó ott sétál.' the word 'eladó' is a noun (and the subject of the sentence).
Cf. the word cooling, which can be either an adjective or a noun depending on its function in the sentence.
Why "the seller is walking over there" is not correct and "The sales is walking over there" is correct?
My Hungarian teacher, who is very experienced and respected and teaches at ELTE in Budapest, told us that sétál means walk or stroll. Please check the two meanings and add stroll if it is correct.
Beware that eladó lány does not mean seller girl but a young woman who is at the age of marrying, literally girl for sale
"The sales woman is walking over there" should be marked correct, i think
"The seller is there, walking" (or without the comma, doesn't matter)...why is it wrong?
