"Eighty-three bicycles stand in front of the library."
Translation:A könyvtár előtt nyolcvanhárom bicikli áll.
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Imagine these two questions, for example:
Q: How many bicycles stand in front of the library?
A: A könyvtár előtt nyolcvanhárom bicikli áll.
Q: Where do eighty-three bicycles stand?
A: Nyolcvanhárom bicikli a könyvtár előtt áll.
Of course. Although they want to emphasize that the bicycles are in front of the library.
I would have thought it would be the other way around, with the information requested at the front of the sentence.
How many bicycles stand in front of the library? 83 bicycles stand in front of the library.
Where do the 83 bicycles stand? In front of the library....
I guess I don't understand emphasis.
1367
The important part is right in front of the verb. That is the focus point.
The first item in the sentence is the topic.
Let's analyse "A könyvtár előtt nyolcvan bicikli áll": "A könyvtár előtt" is the topic. I am going to tell you now what is happening in front of the library. You now know what the sentence is about, but the important details are yet to come:
"Nyolcvan bicikli áll" is focus and verb. Eighty bicycles are standing there. This is the detail I wanted to tell you.
You can help yourself a bit getting the hang of it if you read the Hungarian sentence aloud and put stress onto the word(s) in front of the verb.