"A madarak elrepülnek erről a kéményről."

Translation: The birds fly away from this chimney.

[Arcaeca]

I don't understand... if they're flying away from the chimney, shouldn't it be "ettol a kemenytol"? (Ignoring the lack of accents) Doesn't this currently mean something like "the birds fly off this chimney"?

[vvsey]

If they are ON the chimney, they will fly "a kéményRŐL."
If they are NEXT TO the chimney, they will fly "a kéményTŐL."

Sorry. :) I think any Hungarian who goes through this course will gain a new appreciation of the complexity of this language...

And I guess we can call this a not totally accurate translation?

[Arpad737071]

Or, if they are NEXT TO the chimney, they can fly "a kémény MELLŐL.", either.

[dqJacO]

yes, -ről assumes they were perched on it. With -től they would be hovering around it.

[KristofKam]

Both ettől and erről means from this, but you use ettől when you are by something, and erről when you are on top of something

There is also a 3rd version which is ebből which you use when you were in something

[Kathy979841]

Too right, it is driving me crazy

[DeneRumsby]

could someone explain why this isn't
a madarak elrepülnek ez erről a kémenyről erről?
using previous Dulingo rules it seems this should be the solution

[jzsuzsi]

a kémény mellett - next to the chimney

a kéményről - from the chimney

ez+ről = erről

So, if the postposition was written as a separate word (like mellett, alatt, fölött....) you end up with

e mellett a kémény mellett

if it was a suffix like -ről -ban -nál -on, you still have it attached to both ez and kémény

erről a kéményről

[DeneRumsby]

Thanks for the prompt reply and excellent explanation!
I knew there would be a reason but couldn't figure out what it was

[sharonleecowan]

You're lucky you got a prompt explanation. I have been using DuoLingo in Hungarian and Russian for two years, and I have NEVER received a reply to any of my questions in the discussion area.