"Te színészeket vagy sofőröket ismersz?"
Translation:Do you know actors or drivers?
7 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Would the sentence be different at all if I were saying: "Do you know any actresses or lawyers?"
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Yes, there is a slight difference between the two sentences.
In the Duolingo sentence, the speaker assumes that the listener knows some people, and he/she would like to know their professions.
- Te színészeket vagy sofőröket ismersz? = "Do you know actors or drivers?"
In your sentence, emphasis is on the verb, that is, whether the listener knows anyone like that.
- Ismersz színészeket vagy sofőröket? = "Do you know any actors or drivers?"
To add to iRBiS's answer: since the object is right before the verb, the sentence means something like the (slightly stilted) English sentence:
Is it actors or drivers that you know?
So ... is it possible to treat this as a yes/no question or is it only a two-alternatives question? (ie. Is vagy inclusive-or (OR) or exclusive-or (XOR) or both?)
Vagy itself can be either inclusive or exclusive, like 'or' in English. You can modulate it though with the position of the verb, like iRBiS explained above: with the objects in front of the verb, it would be understood as a choice between actors and drivers. If the verb is in front, you're asking if you know any kind of people like that.
