"Are these eighty-one apples?"
Translation:Ez nyolcvanegy alma?
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Is Ezek nyolcvanegy alma? also possible?
I know that alma is singular, but if you start asking about "Are these....?", you might not know whether you are asking about quantity (with a singular noun) or something else.
Also, would "Are these apples?" be Ez alma?, Ezek almák?, or either? (Since I believe singular alma often refers to apples in general.)
"Ezek nyolcvanegy alma" is not correct, "ez" and "az" always have to match the noun in number.
Without context I would always translate "Are these apples?" to "Ezek almák?", but you are right, singular alma can refer to more than one apples, so "Ez alma?" is correct as well.
"Ez alma?" brings me the idea of tasting some fruit juice or taking a bite from a pie. So, in that case, it is not even about countability, hanem about what something is made of/from.
Or I could be looking at a grove of fruit trees. Or at a a piece of wooden furniture.
But of course the "apples in general" thing is also valid. Looking at a heap of apples, etc.
On starting your sentence with "Ez" vs. "Ezek": there is just no way one would mix up the rest. You automatically continue your sentence the right way. It is already in your head when your brain decides to say "Ez" over "Ezek" or vice versa.
Could it be "Ezek nyolcvanegy almak", I know that alma shall be singular after number, but here, the number is not directly associated with "alma"...
"Are these 81 apples?" I am very confused as to why it's not "ezek 81 almak" instead of "ez 81 alma"
Hungarian nouns stay in their singular form after numerals. The idea is that the numeral already expresses plurality, so there's no need to change the noun:
- Almák vannak az asztalon. (There are apples on the table.)
but
- Három alma van az asztalon. (There are three apples on the table.)
- Sok alma van az asztalon. (There are many apples on the table.)