"Éva often paints trees."
Translation:Gyakran fákat fest Éva.
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Do the adverbs always go at the front of the sentence? I always seem to misplace those
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According to my Hungarian grammar book, the regular accusative endings are -ot, -et, -öt, and -t. Quoting: "The unstable vowel (o, e, ö) also (there were two paragraphs before this discussing the matter) always appears if the stem is a lowering stem (here it references another paragraph), in which case the unstable vowel is irregularly -a or - e.". It then goes on to list falat, fület, vizet, tehenet, várat, and könnyet. Hope this helps :)
What is the nuanced difference between "Éva gyakran fákat fest," "Éva gyakran fest fákat " and "Gyakran fákat fest Éva"? When is it best to place the adverb at the front of the sentence?
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I promoted your question, hoping that someone, with more knowledge than myself, might answer it. They haven't, so here's my attempt.
I'd say that there is very little difference between "Éva gyakran fákat fest." and "Gyakran fákat fest Éva.". We are talking about Éva, so I'd imagine that she belongs in the "topic" part of the sentence, at the start, but having said that, there are many Duolingo examples that place such things at the end, in the "rest". Both these statements say that it is trees that Éva most often paints; we all know that Éva spends much of her time painting, but this is, specifically what she paints most often..
The other, "Éva gyakran fest fákat.", means that Éva can often be seen painting trees; she may not paint anything else at all.
Thanks. Maybe your reply will goad another of the language mentors on this page to add to it.
Yes... and no. Now is not a correct solution. BUT Éva szokott fákat festeni. is maybe good as well, but it means: Éva paints trees. Your sentense (Éva fákat szokott festeni.) means that Éva paints ONLY trees.
Yeah, I thought so. I meant the grammar structure with "szokott" per sé. I am still struggling with the word order in Hungarian! :-D Thank you!
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"Fákat gyakran fest Éva."? I thought I'd put the adverb with the verb. Also influenced by a number of examples in this set that ended with "lát Péter".
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What have I said in my incorrect answer, Gyakran fákat éva fest. I, too am falling victim to word order, as there seems to be no strict rules to follow. Despite the allowed variables, I still manage to get it wrong.
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I'm doing a bit of theorising here, so, please take this with a grain of salt. The adverb will normally to apply to the verb or to the noun that has focus. if applied to the verb, it will appear immediately in front of it, or if there is something in focus (immediately in front of the verb), it will appear immediately behind the verb and preverb (if any). If it applies to the noun in focus, then it should immediately precede that noun, and the verb should then follow that noun.
So: "Gyakran Éva fest fákat" ==> It is often Éva who is painting trees, "Éva gyakran fákat fest" ==> It is often trees that Éva paints. "Éva gyakran fest fákat" ==> Éva is often painting trees. "Gyakran fákat Éva fest" ==> It is Éva who is often painting trees.
That last scenario would be an unusual one, which is why I suggested that if the adverb is applied to a noun, then it would normally be the noun that is in focus that has the adverb applied to it.