"This is not a dream!"

Translation: Ez nem álom!

[plastoquinone]

Why can't we use 'nincs' here?

[vvsey]

Because "nincs" means "there is no". So it would literally become "This is there is no dream".

[plastoquinone]

Thank you!

[mbgreen11]

But it seems that rarely is Hungarian translated literally but rather has many colloquialisms. I thought I was supposed to use "nincs" every time that I ran across "it is not."

[mizinamo]

nincs is more or less like nem van -- and so like van it is used in situations such as "there is [an object in a certain location]" but not in situations such as "X is (a) Y" (the cat is red, the book is a novel, this is a dream", etc.

[vvsey]

Yes, it is "there is not", rather than "it is not". It is an existential thing. Something does not exist or is not located somewhere.

[AviciiBergling]

Yes, and also nincs is used in the 3rd person format :)

[MNHMONIKON]

Would "nincs álom" be "there is no dream"?

[jzsuzsi]

Yes.

[RebeccaCalkins]

Why can't we say "Nem ez álom?"

[AviciiBergling]

This would mean 'Not this dream' But instead it would be ' This is not a dream' Because 'nem ez alom' will make it sound like you're talking about a specific dream rather than saying it isn't (:

[KaIs967201]

This torture..........