"Are the kindergarten teachers above the city?"

Translation: Az óvónők a város fölött vannak?

[joiedevvivre]

What is the difference between "felett" and "fölött"??

[vvsey]

Nothing. There are some words that exist both in an "e" and "ö" version.

[joiedevvivre]

right, that makes sense! is the 'e' version is the more modern one then? Is there a sense of formality with the 'ö'??

[vvsey]

If there is any, it is a minor difference. You are welcome to use whichever you prefer. There are some expressions that got fixed with one version of a word.
This is discussed all over the course. Here is one of those conversations, but you can search in the discussions yourself if you want:
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/16759359

[joiedevvivre]

thanks so much!!

[MartosBogi]

I had a 'Choose the correct answer" exercise and got two similar answers: Az óvónénik a város felett vannak. Az óvónők a város fölött vannak. I marked both correct which was not accepted. Why? I think they mean the same. Did I miss something?

[JBaer1]

Is it possible to correctly answer this question while beginning the sentence with the verb (vannak) rather than putting the verb at the end?

[MrtonPolgr]

I'm not sure what you mean. First of all, as the viral quote says: Don't ask where to put the verb, ask where to put everything relative to it. This might help in the long run. Also, for an answer? Well, I don't know. I think the only natural way to answer this question besides repeating it affirmatively, is saying "igen"/"nem". With some forcing, maybe "ott vannak"/"nem ott (vannak)" All in all, I can't imagine an answer starting with "vannak" not sound somewhat forced or twisted.

[_Tawera_]

What do they even mean with that sentence, that doesn't even make sense

[MrtonPolgr]

I think you kinda abuse the expression "doesn't make sense". One can understand this sentence perfectly and can even answer it, chances are with a "no".
It's just yet another sentence asking about whether something is located at a given place. Can "kindergarten teachers" be located somewhere? Yes they can. Is "above the city" a location? Yes it is. The sentence fullfills its purpose.

[JereArmen]

Once again, I failed at proper word order. I thought, in a question the verb comes in second place, after the question word. Since there is no question word here, I started with the subject, then verb, then post-positional phrase. I was wrong. Sigh.

[MrtonPolgr]

Now, this is why simplifications are problematic... Don't take

in a question the verb comes in second place, after the question word

as a dogma. It's more like the logical consequence of word order rules in general. There is no such a thing as question word order - if it's a yes/no question, you simply don't change anything about the sentence, you keep it as if it was indicative.

For the same reason, what you wrote made sense - a fairly different sense. You are basically asking who is above the city and you are giving the hint it's kindergarten teachers. "I know someone is above the city - is it kindergarten teachers?"

[BaloghTams19]

They are beginning this crazy series. They will have dozens of sentences about kindergarten teachers flying above the city.