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- Topic: Hungarian >
- "I know some children."
"I know some children."
Translation:Én ismerek néhány gyereket.
24 Comments
760
If there is any word indicating that there are multiple things involved, like 'many' (sok), 'some' (néhány), or numbers (két, három and so on), you use the singular noun.
I remembered this right after I asked the question, but i had to go through the whole lesson again to get to that question so I could access this discussion. Thank you!
It's the indefinite conjugation because there's nothing to indicate definiteness, like "The" or "These" or "Those". It's simply "Some children".
This is indefinite conjugation, (some children, not the children). See here http://www.hungarianreference.com/Verbs/Verbs-Definite-Conjugation.aspx and here http://www.hungarianreference.com/Verbs/Verbs-Indefinite-Conjugation.aspx.
Does "Én ismerek néhány gyereket" sound more natural than "Néhány gyereket ismerek"?
- 760
No, you can only tud facts. Ismer is describing a familiarity with people or settings, something you've seen before.
Plus, tudom is definite conjugation which doesn't apply here since the children are not defined. You'd need tudok or ismerek, respectively.
- 1135
Could you use "kevés" instead of "néhány", so "Kevés gyereket ismerek" or “Ismerek kevés gyereket" are "kevés" and "néhány" interchangeable or is there a rule for when you use each one?
- 760
Kevés is usually translated as "few" or "a few" (or "little / a little" for uncountable nouns), while néhány is "some". In practical terms they are pretty interchangeable, though, like "a few" and "some" in English.
- 760
Pár is "a couple of", which is pretty equivalent to "some".
The preferred translation here is "Én ismerek néhány gyereket."
- 760
The age of the speaker. :)
They are synonyms and/or writing variants of the same word. Gyerek is the more modern variant and more popular nowadays, but some derived words are more common with gyermek, like gyermektelen - childless.
Is "Én néhány ismerek gyereket" wrong, weird, or acceptable? I assume my word order is wrong, but I still don't really know exactly why. I do know the word before the verb is emphasized, which is "néhány" or "some" in my sentence.
- 760
It's wrong. It's true that the emphasis is on the thing in front of the verb, but you cannot just separate an adjective from its noun. "Néhány gyereket" has to stay together. If you put ismerek behind it, it can emphasise either part of that construction. In speech, you can put stress on the specific word you want to emphasise.
No, tud is for knowing information, or for knowing how to do something. Ismer means having met someone, or been someplace, or are familiar with something. You can't "tud" a person. :)
