"This policeman hurries there to the Polish man, and not to the American."
Translation:Ez a rendőr a lengyel férfihez siet oda, nem pedig az amerikaihoz.
5 Comments
What's the problem with: ez a rendőr odasiet a lengyel férfihez, nem pedig az amerikaihoz?
If you are contrasting things ("A, and not B"), then this thing should be focussed by putting it right in front of the verb.
So closely in front of the verb, in fact, that even a preverb is detached.
Since you are contrasting "to the Polish man, not to the American", "the Polish man" should be in front of the verb, and the oda has to come afterwards.
That was I thought previously. However, I've seen in this course contrasting ideas being constructed like I wrote. This course is so confusing, when I think I understand something, they write the opposite later.
There is no problem with it. The problem is that the order of words in a Hungarian sentence is flexible. A different order, or even different intonation might put emphasis on a slightly different part of the sentence but that does not make it wrong. This course is quite infuriating in this sense, although i hope it is still considered in beta. I am a well spoken Hungarian and I can't test out at all.
That's a relief. I thought I was doing really poorly and I am a native Hungarian too, but I left as a child so I am here to brush up on writing. Duo makes so many mistakes. I am quite frustrated too. But there isn't much choice for an online course. I'm going to Budapest in a few months for a year or so and I'll be immersed, so it will be ok. :)
