"A házon nincs tető."
Translation:The house does not have a roof.
July 27, 2016
17 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
This discussion is locked.
RyagonIV
1359
That sounds a bit strange in English. First you say something doesn't exist, and then you state where it doesn't exist? "There is no" sounds much better.
RyagonIV
1359
It does make sense, yes, but the grammar seems off to me. If you go for nonexistance, you usually use "There is no [noun]." There is no knife in the kitchen. There are no fish in the river. There is no joy in my life. Or perhaps with "There isn't any [noun]". But "There isn't a [noun]" sounds strange.
Perhaps the reason is that "not" is an adverb, and "to be" has a pretty hard time with adverbs. If you start with "There is not a roof on the house", I kinda expect you to follow with "but an airship". Like, what is on the house instead. It sounds like "A házon nem tető van."