23 Comments
Can this sentence have... umm... let's say alternative uses? If you know what I mean.
What you mean is "vki elmegy." So it's never "it"'s that goes (or comes) in Hungarian, but the person.
Yes, exactly. Vala- is sometimes abbreviated to v- in writing colloquially (& in dictionaries.)
If eljön means "it comes", what is the difference between eljön and jön?
This is not so easy to explain. jön: ~ an obj or pers. coming now in your direction eljön:~ an obj or per. that will come (in the future) to you / for you (and it stops at your place or will take you somewhere). A taxi jön. - A cab comes (in my direction (now)) / it is on its way in my direction. ... A taxi eljön (értem). - A cab will come (to pick me up).
A barátom jön. My friend is coming (in my direction) A barátom eljön (hozzám). My friend will come. (to my place) This is the best explanation that i can find at the moment
I"m curious about this, too, especially because "el" means "away," and that's not in the translation.
El expresses a completive (or sometimes incohative) aspect of the action; and in some cases it can be rendered as "away" or "out" in the English translation, however, in other cases it cannot be translated directly.
325
I believe in Norwegian "bort" means "away", but "kom bort her" can mean "come over here", implying "away from where you are now". Probably similar here.
A general question about the use of repetition in Hungarian. For example some people repeat 'igen' when you talk to them. 'Igen igen igen ...' Is this considered normal and acceptable? It doesn't cross the cultural divide very well as I find it really odd. Does it implicitly mean, you can stop talking because I totally agree with you and now I want to say something?
I wouldn't say that it means to stop talking. It indicates agreement, and is friendly and encouraging. I agree it took time to get used to it, and I'm uncomfortable doing it myself. This is called "cooperartive overlaping" if you want to learn more. I would say this applies to Hungarians.
I think some English speaking folks do it too. I guess it's just verifying that they're following the conversation.
I know what you mean. I hear people saying, "Yeah, yeah," when listening to someone. It's the same kind of thing.
Does lj has the same rule as ly? If the answer is yes, is this exceptional because it's two words? What about nj, tj, etc.?
- 140
I do not understand exactly the question. The word 'jön' = wordroot (dictionary form). /I am Hungarian, sorry./ The 'el' is a preverb. The 'ly' sound = 'j' sound. The 'ly' is a traditional-style spelling. (Lyuk = hole; lyukaszt = punch; kályha = stove) But for example: meNJ, léPJen, éLJek, nyiTJa, lyukaszTJák - here the 'j' letter is a verbal suffix. It is can never be 'ly', only 'j'. In these words, the form of the dictionary is: megy/men(ni); lép(ni), él(ni); nyit(ni); lyukaszt(ani). I hope I could help.
So "she is coming away, yes coming away" is wrong. But why the correct answer in the first part has "she", and the second "it" ?
You meant what could be the question to this answer. The answer to your question is then just use your unquestionable imagination.
