"Én nem látok riportert."
Translation:I do not see a reporter.
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How do you know between "a reporter" or "the reporter?" There is no article here in hungarian to let you know which article it is.
If there's no article, use a(n). Also, if it were "the reporter", the Hungarian verb would need definite conjugation: "Én nem látom a riportert."
So it is the case that one does use "a/an" - - in the translation here! Also, does one always use a Hungarian definite article (such as, "a" or "az") concomitantly with the definite conjugation?
Yes, the definite article is a good indicator. I think the only exceptions are names and personal pronouns:
Meghívom Pétert is. -- I invite Péter too.
Látod őt? -- Do you see him?
Also possessees. Három vállalatot adott el a milliárdos vs Három vállalatát adta el a milliárdos
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Assuming an object that takes the accusative - ending in -t. Other cases do not take the definite case even if you use a(z).
The given sentence is more like "I do not see any reporters" (you were expecting reporters but couldn't find any) "Én nem látok egy riportert" is "I do not see a reporter" (not often used, but similar to last one) "Én nem látom a riportert" is "I do not see the reporter" (a specific reporter you were looking for)
Very good point, that was my translation too and luckily it's accepted. "Nem látok egy riportert" sounds like you can't see a certain, "unnamed" reporter; "egy riportert sem" would sound like "no reporters at all", hence I think it's much closer to the sentence presented here
I can't remember what the Hungarian word was (I'm sure one of the native speakers will fill in my ignorance! :-) ) , but there was a specific word for "cannot" a few lessons back.
Yes, but in this case I think "I can't see a reporter" should be an acceptable translation.
Not really because I can't see a reporter would be "Nem tudok látni riportert"
Actually, "I don't see" and "I can't see" both translate to "nem látok". Do not use the "nem tudok" form with hearing or seeing, in this sense.
No matter how many times I listen to this sentence, I keep hearing it as "ripórtért". Does the reader pronounce it funnily or is it just me? I'm still getting used to the long and short vowels in Hungarian.
Nope, I don't hear anything special about it, quite a usual pronunciation. I think the vowel length is okay too; the difference is not very important here since the syllable has a consonant cluster anyway.
"Én nem látok riportert." I do not see reporter. "Én nem látok egy riportert." I do not see a reporter.
It's not a good idea to treat translation as word-for-word mapping. "I do not see reporter" sounds just wrong in English and "Én nem látok egy riportert" sounds like there is a certain (but unnamed) reporter that you don't see. Also, in English it may be more common to use "I can't see" that you definitely don't want to translate as "Nem tudok látni" because that wouldn't fit in Hungarian.
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In Hungarian "egy" is only used in certain circumstances - it is often dropped - which you cannot do in English. On the other hand, English often drops the "the" when you cannot in Hungarian. The languages are different. They have different rules.
Is the definite conjugation explained in Duo Tips or do Ineed to search the web?
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Always read the tips - https://www.duolingo.com/skill/hu/Definite-conjugation/tips-and-notes