"Ülünk a vonaton és visszanézünk a folyóra."

Translation: We sit on the train and look back at the river.

[GerSzej]

onto the river was rejected. sometimes onto is mandatory, sometimes it is prohibited. Good luck!

[_paranoia_]

Anyway, I think the right idiom here is "look at" the river. Or is it just in the direction of the river?

[RyagonIV]

It should be "look at". I guess "look to" would be translated with a folyóhoz.

[Judit294350]

Because "look onto the river" sounds off in English.

[PaulSuich]

So true. It seems to depend upon the whim of the developer as to the literal or metaphorical/idiomatic toss of the coin. In American idiom I would never sit "on" a train, I would always sit "in" a train. To sit on makes me think of riding on top of the train with the wind in my hair. The literal "on" was preferred. In the second half of the sentence we literally look "onto" the river but the idiomatic "at" is preferred.

[HaukurJonasson]

Does "visszanéz" mean "look at again" or "look at something behind you" as in over your shoulder? Can vissza- mean the same as re- in English, e.g. "visszacsinál" = redo?

[ljikontic]

And again and again the same problem why not can we use here present continious tense, it sounds here ten times more English than present simple tense.Is there any English native speaker to resolve this problem.

[RyagonIV]

Not a native and I cannot resolve it either, but there's nothing more you can do than reporting the sentences. :)

[Patricia460976]

Native English speaker (USA variety). One might say, "I'm going on a train," or "have you ever been on a train?" But otherwise we say "by train" or "in a train."

For the context of the sentence in this lesson, it would be correct to say, "we sit in the train and look back at the river," or, (and this would be more likely), "we are sitting in the train and looking back at the river." Note that the word "and" is not really necessary and it would be more commonly not used. Replaced by a comma.

[ljikontic]

Thanks Patricia ,you explained me all.I am happy of course that you confirmed all I've learned at school,f.e. to travel by train a.s.o.All my congrats on your 22 nd level of Hungarian but especially Hebrew.When I young was I wanted to study it but it was easier to choose Hungarian which looks me like Hebrew Best regards from sunny Belgrade and a little suggestion why you do not try to study any of Slavic languages they are also very tough to study but a real challenge and pleasure..

[Patricia460976]

Two at a time is enough. In fact, I put Hebrew on hold for a bit (I learned some as a child, but constantly having to switch my keyboard is annoying) but I plan on learning quite a few more languages. I chose Hungarian because of a family connection, Hebrew because I'm Jewish (though really I am more interested in Biblical Hebrew than modern Hebrew) and Spanish as a review as I am fluent in Spanish (from having married a Chilean).

Good luck with your studies, too.

[bturbanic]

I'm a US English speaker, too, but sitting "on a train" is ok to my ear. I think it would also be ok to say you sit "on a bus" or "on an airplane" (but never "on a car").

[Patricia460976]

Maybe it depends what part of the USA we each are from. It's a big country and not linguistically homogeneous.