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- "Egy nő ugrik a vonat elé!"
34 Comments
"A woman is jumping in front of the train!" . . . to escape from a plague of flying kindergarten teachers.
The Italian program talks about dead and crazy people all the time. Quite operatic.
461
Commiting suicide? Or does it have another meaning? Or is she jumping up and down, making jokes?
a vonat elé must be "vor den Zug" (movement towards); "vor dem Zug" (location) would be a vonat előtt.
I wish Duolingo would make this course in Russian, because it is really hard to understand the meaning of such sentenses using English grammar, so Russian grammar is very very close to Hungarian one.
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Duolingo doesn't make the courses. People do. If you know a couple of people who speak both Russian and Hungarian, they can make a course. :)
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Given the political history of Hungary, there must be some people who speak both Russian and Hungarian ...
There are of course but not too many: the level of education of obligatory Russian was low and enthusiasm levels too: it used to be the language of the foreign soldiers stationed in Hungary
No, it is not true! I am Russian and I have the same problems, as you are, all the time I confuse about situations and grammar difficulties. Russian grammar is much closer to the central european, Hungarian grammar has more brothership with Turkish
Probably had too many correct English sentences marked incorrect. Or perhaps she simply couldn’t find an airplane
Probably had too many correct English sentences marked incorrect. Or perhaps she couldn’t find an airplane
why does 'elé' mean 'in front of' here? doesn't 'el' usually mean 'off' or 'away' as in 'elmegyek'?
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El only carries that "away" meaning as a verbal prefix. Here it is a postposition, belonging to the group of elé - előtt - elől (to the front of - in front of - away from the front of)
facepalm Thanks. I should have remembered that. There was a whole lesson on it after all...
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That is almost a correct translation. It should be egy nő, however, since it's "a woman" and not "the woman". Also remember that előtt has a long ő.
The difference between your version and the given one is the directional portion. In the given one, she jumps towards the train, ending up in front of it (elé - movement to the front). In yours, she is already in front of the train and jumps around there (előtt - remaining in front).
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The English translation suggests that the woman is about to jump in front of the train, but hasn't done it yet - like the observer has noticed her intention just as she is about to act. Is that correct? Otherwise the English translation would be "A woman has jumped in front of the train" yes?
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Not quite. 'The woman is jumping in front of the train' means that she is in the act of doing so. She has already started, she is moving through the air, but has not yet landed on the ground again in front of the train.
Some acts take very little time, and are almost impossible to talk about in the present tense. It's either going to happen, or it already has happened. In the time it takes to say, "Egy nő ugrik a vonat elé! " it's in the past.
I gasped before I had consciously translated the sentence into English, I am proud of myself.
