"I do not see a reporter."
Translation:Én nem látok riportert.
8 Comments
Can't you say "nem látok EGY riportert"? Like, is EGY not used this way in negative sentences?
First of all, as a non-native English speaker I'd like to ask if "I do not see a reporter" is synonymous with "I do not see any reporters" or not.
In Hungarian if the indefinite article is included and the verb is negated ("Nem látok egy riportert"), the sentence means I don't see a particular reporter (whose identity is not revealed).
"Nem látok riportert", "Nem látok riportereket" and "Nem látok egy riportert sem" are synonymous -- I don't see (any) reporters.
I'd tend to say can't see rather than don't see.
For me, the feeling is:
- I can't see a reporter. = I expect to see (at most) one reporter here, but there isn't one.
- I can't see any reporters. = I expect to see more than one (or at least: one or more) reporter here, but there are no reporters at all.
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That would be "Én nem tudok látni riportert" or "Én nem láthatok riportert"
Literally, maybe, but otherwise no.
Hungarian would say "Én nem látok riportert" for both the "don't" and the "can't" versions.
"Én nem láthatok riportert." - this one sounds like I am not permitted to see any reporters.
I think that would be "It's not a reporter that I see" and would be expected to be followed by "but [instead] a ...".
So when you do see something, but the thing you see is not a reporter.
It's a possible translation of the English sentence, but I think not a good one since the English doesn't seem to set up such a contrast.
