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is this paint in the sense of I do not cover these chairs with paint, or i am not drawing these chairs?
If you were putting paint onto the chairs, say, painting the chairs a different color, wouldn't you be painting onto the chairs? "Nem festek székekre," maybe?
You wouldn't say it like that just as you wouldn't say that in English for example. In English you say "I'm not painting chairs" not "I'm not painting onto the chairs". Similarly you would just say "nem festek székeket" literally: "I'm not painting chairs"
OK, thanks. I asked because there was another similar exercise where the English sentence was "I'm painting lawyers," and people wanted to know whether the painter is painting portraits of lawyers, or putting paint on lawyers (body paint, or something similar). And the agreed-on answer seemed to be that the second meaning would be expressed as "ügyvédekre festek." Is that also incorrect? (Sorry, I don't know how to search for that discussion, unfortunately I didn't click on "follow".)
Hi, that is actually correct. Hungarian tends to be much more specific vs. English, where as per your example "I'm painting lawyers" could mean both what you described above. In Hungarian, the '...re' at the end of 'ügyvéd' tells you 'onto lawyers'. Whereas using '...et' at the end of the noun as in 'ügyvédeket' would just mean 'painting lawyers.' (Those lawyers) I hope this is clear.
Actually, there is a difference between grammar just as in English when discussing persons vs. objects and it is more accurate to be specific: "székeket vs. székekre". Whereas you could say "I'm painting chairs" it could have a double meaning: it could mean I'm painting chairs as in onto a canvas (painting) or painting the chairs themselves, when you're talking about people it doesn't tend to work in the same way because you most likely wouldn't mean when "painting lawyers" that you are painting 'onto' lawyers but you're painting a painting. So, "székeket festek" actually could mean either that you're painting the chairs themselves or you're painting a painting of chairs.
I don't understand what the difference is between lawyers and chairs, as far as the grammar goes.
Accusative:
"ügyvédeket festek" - I paint (images, portraits of) lawyers.
"székeket festek" - I paint (images of) chairs (on canvas, etc)
Sublative:
"ügyvédekre festek" - I paint lawyers' bodies (or clothes), I put paint on the lawyers.
"székekre festek" - I'm putting paint onto the chairs, for example, to change the color.
Wouldn't these work the same regardless of the noun (chairs or lawyers)?
Thanks.
"Drawing" would be "rajzolni", not "festeni", so it's "paint chairs" in the sense you explained above.
If I understood well the question was whether "to paint" in this sentence meant to cover the chair with the paint or to paint the chair on the canvas, paper, wall... wherever. And if I understood Shamarth the meaning of the sentence could be both. Miklosh13, thanks for a new word - rajzolni - to draw.
