- Forum >
- Topic: Hungarian >
- "The boy sees a young person."
"The boy sees a young person."
Translation:A fiú egy fiatalt lát.
10 Comments
I see that an indefinite article was used in original sentence. Can it be omitted in Hungarian translation? I ask if this sentence would be grammatically correct:
"A fiú lát fiatalt"
Or some article have to be used always? Resp., are there any rules when can be omitted?
P.S. I saw another sentence in DL, and there was no article used: "Ki lát almát?"
The problem is not the omission of the article but the word order. :)
"A fiú fiatalt lát" is correct, albeit rare. There are some nouns which are sometimes used without article, and other which sound weird without it.
For example "a fiú madarat látott" is equal to "a fiú egy madarat látott". While "a fiú autót látott" sounds unnatural, "a fiú egy autót látott" is the common way.
So yes, it can be omitted but rarely. I suggest you to use it. :)
I think "fiatal" is just such a vague word, it means "young". Adding the "egy" explicitly makes it a noun which, in this form, specifically means "a young person". So that's why the "egy" was used in the sentence.
As for your sentence, "A fiú lát (egy) fiatalt" is certainly correct, in the right context. For example: Who sees a young person? The boy does. The boy sees a young person. "A fiú". "A fiú lát (egy) fiatalt".
Why this word order? To me it looks like it's stressing "it's a young person the boy is looking for, not any other age." I could be wrong, but if that's the case, then why not "Egy fiatalt a fiú lát?" or "Egy fiatalt lát a fiú?" Don't know which of those sounds better.
"Egy fiatalt lát a fiú" would be correct (but not "fiút"!). Also correct: "A fiú lát egy fiatalt."
I think you overestimate how much you can split "fiatalt" into "young" and "person". It doesn't stress age that much - but you are right that it's in the focus.
"Egy fiatalt a fiú lát" sounds quite rare because you propose "egy fiatalt", an indefinite piece of information as the topic of the sentence - which is unlikely. The other version sounds good, "fiú" is presented less important than in the given solution (topic -> "trivial" sidenote).
with the approve answer, why couldn't the boy be seeing a young dog rather than a person?
then you would explicitly say "fiatal kutyát". "fiatal" in itself is not an adjective anymore but a noun, and it is a fixed expression used to describe people
