- Forum >
- Topic: Hungarian >
- "A nagy fekete autó elhalad a…
"A nagy fekete autó elhalad az iskola előtt."
Translation:The big black car is passing by in front of the school.
10 Comments
888
If you say it's a valid translation (I'm not sure, but I'm not an English native), you should propose it.
205
The use of "by" in the sentence doesn't sound old fashioned to me, it just sounds awkward and redundant. I don't mind Duolingo's awkward English and even prefer it when it better expresses the full meaning of the Hungarian sentence. In this case however, I don't think "by" adds anything.
This car is currently in front of the school, and is moving along in front of the school. (Perhaps we are watching it go by from the window of the school).
Az iskola elé would be useful for something that has moved (or is moving) to a position in front of the school, from somewhere not in front of the school.
310
I tried something like five different perfectly cromulent translations before I hit upon the particular word combination it wanted. Of course, the particular word combination it wanted turned out to be one I rejected out of hand for being totally unnatural in English.