- Forum >
- Topic: Hungarian >
- "The girl comes in and sits d…
"The girl comes in and sits down on the sofa."
Translation:Bejön a lány és leül a kanapéra.
15 Comments
Why "kanapéra" instead of "kanapére"? I thought the vowel-harmony rule was based on the root's last syllable.
Is this word an exception to the basic rule, or have I mislearned the rule? köszi
It's not terribly uncommon for é to appear in foreign loan-words which are treated as back-vowel words.
So this is a common exception to the base rule? Is that how to understand it?
Yes, I can't think of lots of examples, but kávé and csokoládé are everyday ones, drazsé (jellybean - I can only recall hearing this word post-Harry Potter) is another... góré (+), balhé...
(+) Thanks, Ganxsta Zolee, for enriching my vocabulary
It's probably safe to adopt the rule, "if a word consists of back vowels and a rogue é then it can take back-vowel endings"
No, the the vowel-harmony rule is based on all the vowels in the word. There are some exceptions, but "Kanapé" is not an exception. It has both "deep vowels" ("A"s) and a "high vowel" ("É"), so it's a mixed word. Mixed words usually fine with both "-ra" and "-re", but sometimes one of them becomes the common form and we cling to this tradition. "Kanapéra" became the common form and we use it that way. (A great example who traditions defeat logical rules)
Agreed. The Hungarian rule is not as simple as just taking the last vowel. Turkish has that, but even they have exceptions. In Hungarian it is more complex.
What exactly is emphasized in 'Bejön a lány és leül a kanapéra'? I wrote 'A lány bejön és leül a kanapéra' and I guess I put the emphasis on the fact that it's a girl and not anyone else, did I get it right?
Why was "a lány bejön és a kanapéra leül" incorrect? Truly incorrect or just a problem with the algorithm?
when do we use felül and leül? their translations are same but in this case felül isnt accepted
If the object you sit on is in a lower position (chairs, sofas etc) then use leül. If the object is in a higher position (like a desk or a bar stool..) then it is felül.
