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- "Is that a boy or a girl?"
"Is that a boy or a girl?"
Translation:Az egy fiú vagy egy lány?
14 Comments
I love it when languages leave out pointless words, I just love it when it ALWAYS leaves out pointless words, instead of this weird flip-flop
Az = that (or "the" if directly in front of a noun starting with a vowel)
Ez = this
Ok, I see it above as correct, so I could. But in a multiple choice, I had "Az egy fiú vagy lány?" as correct. So why only one "egy"?
721
It's a valid sentence, but yes, it's a bit weird. It sounds pretty much like "Is it a boy or girl?" in English, where the answer would probably be "Yes."
Nonetheless, it's a correct translation.
- 721
Vagy is simply "or" in this sentence. (Vagy can also translate as "you are", so you're right to be wary.)
In copula sentences (sentences of the form "[Object] is [quality]") you don't translate "is" or "(they) are" into Hungarian. You just smoosh "object" and "quality" together:
- Ez fiú. - This (is) a boy.
- A ház magas. - The house (is) tall.
- Azok a féfiak nem orvosok. - Those men (are) not doctors.
If the subject is not a 3rd person ("he/she/it" or "they"), you use a form of "to be"/van, though:
- Fiú vagyok. - I am a boy.
- Magas vagy. - You are tall.
- Nem vagytok orvosok. - You are not doctors.
This is polite: Ő egy fiú, vagy egy lány? Wrong:Az Is this a chair or a window? This is correct: AZ egy szék, vagy egy ablak? (Because are objects: chair,car,door.. but not are objects: boy, girl,dog,mother,father...because have a heart.
