"The small blue car is moving in between those big buses."

Translation: A kicsi kék autó azok között a nagy buszok között halad.

[mattlac]

Any hints on when you use "kis" versus "kicsi"? ("A kis, kék kocsi ... " not accepted, suggested answer instead has "kicsi")

[gwe1980]

"A kis kék kocsi" or "A kis kék autó" are correct too.

[RyagonIV]

If it's in front of a noun, both kis and kicsi are good. If separate, you should only use kicsi.

[ain15412]

IMHO there is no strict rule that the verb goes at the end of the sentence. Therefore "A kicsi kek auto halad azok között a buszok között" shall be accepted. Or?

[RyagonIV]

Sure, that works, too. Putting the car in the focus instead.

[Forzafiori]

would "azok között a nagy buszok között halad a kicsi kék autó" also be acceptable, or did I do something weird with the emphasis of the sentence or something?

[RyagonIV]

No, your sentence is very fine and it has the same focus as the preferred Hungarian sentence.

[AnyaPearl]

Do you really need to say között twice? A kicsi kék autó azok a nagy buszok között halad?

[mizinamo]

Yes; if you have "this" or "that" (or "these" or "those") and the noun takes a case or a postposition, then the "this/that/these/those" needs to take that case as well: azon az asztalon "on that table", e mögött a ház mögött "behind this house", azok alatt a fák alatt "under those trees", ebben a szobában "in this room", etc.

[BigWayne19]

why can't kozott come before azok ?

[mizinamo]

Because Hungarian uses postpositions, which come after the things they modify.

As opposed to English which uses prepositions, which come before the things they modify.

So just as we wouldn't say "moving those busses between" but rather "moving between those busses" (with "between" in front of "those busses"), Hungarian has to have the között after the azok and the a nagy buszok.

[lexi810443]

I'm a native Hungarian speaker and have never spoken this way, although allegedly this is the proper grammar. Seems redundant to me...can anyone explain why it is necessary to use both the general and specific when describing things?

[RyagonIV]

What do you mean by "both the general and specific", regarding this sentence?

[lexi810443]

"Azok között " (between those) being the general and "a nagy buszok között" (between the big buses) being the specific.

It just doesn't make sense to me to say both.

[RyagonIV]

Oh, don't you use "azok a nagy buszok" when talking about a group of specific buses? Or does it only become weird when you're adding között?

Whenever there is a sentence here that uses "this [object]" or "that [object]", you're required to use "ez a [dolog]" and "az a [dolog]" in the translation, including any suffixes and postpositions if necessary. It might not accurately reflect the use in Hungarian, though. I'm not sure.

[JohnWeber786406]

I got burned with A kicsi kék autó azok között halad a nagy buszok között. Am I getting it right by doing this?

A kicsi kék autó - the subject.

azok között a nagy buszok között - extra data

halad - returning to the subject

[jzsuzsi]

Put your components together, then you will get A kicsi kék autó azok között a nagy buszok között halad.

[Amy888307]

I'm really struggling with how to order the sentences in these lessons. Particularly the Között/mellett/alatt/előtt sections. Does anyone have a formula for this? Or can explain in stupid people terms how to order it? I feel like its completely random and I don't get it

[RyagonIV]

Is your issue the placement of között etc. in relation to the other words in the sentence, or of the whole "azok között a buszok között" thing within the structure of the sentence?

The former comes down to the fact that Hungarian normally uses postpositions, which are placed behind the noun they refer to, instead of prepositions, which are more common in English and are placed in front:

• next to the house - a ház mellett
• behind a shop - egy üzlet mögött
• between the buses - a buszok között

And when you have a demonstrative pronoun az ("that") or ez ("this") together with that noun, the pronoun copies the postposition:

• in front of this car - ez előtt az autó előtt
• under that chair - az alatt a szék alatt
• next to these buildings - ezek mellett az épületek mellett

Note that az and ez get shortened to a and e, respectively, if the postposition that follows them begins with a consonant:

• behind this car - e mögött az autó mögött
• above that cupboard - a fölött a szekrény fölött

So that's how you get from "azok a nagy buszok" to the "azok között a nagy buszok között". Both the "that" and the bus get postpositions.

The relative position of those grammatical units (in this case the subject "a kisci kék autó", the location "azok között a nagy buszok között" and the verb "halad") mainly depends on what is your topic (the thing you want to talk about) and what is in focus (the important information you want to coney). Usually the unit in front of the verb is the focus (the buses in this case), and the things in front of that are the topic (that's the car here). So the above sentence basically says: "Regarding this small blue car, it is moving between those buses, not anywhere else."

You can rearrange the sentence to put the car in focus and/or make the buses the topic, for instance:

• Azok között a nagy buszok között a kicsi kék autó halad. - Regarding what's happening between the buses, the small blue car is moving there, not anything else.