"A munkások villamoson és buszon utaznak."

Translation: The workers travel by tram and by bus.

[rachbeat]

there is no plural in the hungarian sentence- so how are we supposed to know that it is plural- why is it not villamosokon and buszokon?

[cerulean9]

bad translation by duolingo

[ion1122]

The current translation (5 July 2017) looks fine to me: A munkások villamoson és buszon utaznak.

[Harold77079]

why not -the workers are on the tram and on the bus traveling. on and not by

[feyMorgaina]

Try "The workers are travelling on trams and on buses".

[Harold77079]

AGREED!

[ion1122]

1. There is a plural in the sentence: munkások.
2. In English you usually use the singular (by tram, by bus) when making a general description. Apparently that is also true for Hungarian.

[_paranoia_]

I'm considering whether "The workers travel on trams and on buses" is a correct translation here. The meaning is similar, at least in American English. But maybe there's something I'm missing?

[jsiehler]

No, you're not missing anything, "on" would be just as good as "by" here.

Fwiw, there's another Hungarian ending that's used with modes of transportation that would feel like a more natural translation of "by" to me (villamossal és busszal) but it hasn't been in the lessons so far.

[JBaer1]

Could it be ...in trams and buses?

[jsiehler]

That seems fine to me.

[cosmo-pedant]

So, in order to be more specific, does the suffix "-al"/"-el" translate as "via" in English, "via" meaning "by way of" or "by means of"? It seems to be properly translated ONLY that way! Thank you to our contributors!

[nonick13]

Is "by tram and bus" wrong?

[_paranoia_]

It seems correct to me. If I were to say a sentence like this, I think I'd probably say "The workers travel by tram and by bus." The only situations I can think of where I would use the plural would involve specific trams and buses, but then that would probably involve the definite article.

[cerulean9]

I don't think it makes sense to use the plural, since it's neither used in the original Hungarian sentence nor more "natural" in English.

[_paranoia_]

Yes, I agree. "By tram and by bus" is sufficiently more correct that "by trams and by buses" should likely be marked wrong.

[feyMorgaina]

No, it's fine. You can say for example "I travel by tram and bus". We don't really need the second "by" in my opinion.

[cerulean9]

that's what I put too, marked wrong by duolingo.

[shlomopong]

I thought the we need to use villamossal and busszal

[Gonoszposz]

Both translations are correct . Buszon és villamoson utaznak is as common here as busszal és villamossal utaznak.

[LaineyHitch]

On would be a more direct translation rather than by. Surely by would be val/vel

[Lili920420]

Tram is not often used in Canada. We usually use streetcars or buses. Tram is more often used in the UK.

[feyMorgaina]

"Tram" is generally used across Europe. But yes, it's a streetcar in Canada and I don't know any Canadians who call it a tram.

"The workers travel by streetcar and by bus." (Reported 2019-08--24)

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tram

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcars_in_North_America

https://www.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Projects/New_Vehicles/New_Streetcars/index.jsp

[Harold77079]

I this situation - By tram and on the tram have the exact same meaning in American Enlish

[cosmo-pedant]

Harold - I suspect that your assertion that "I[n] this situation . . . American En[g]lish." is not true in all contexts, especially if there are many possible "trams" under discussion

[mizinamo]

"He came by a tram" sounds odd to me. (UK English)

[Mark1504]

Is it just me that hears "muszon" not "buszon"? I've repeated so many times but I don't hear a plosive B.

[Peg0909]

There is definitely a b. :-)