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- "But above this wardrobe?"
"But above this wardrobe?"
Translation:De e fölé a szekrény fölé?
12 Comments
Fölött mean that something is above something else but here there is a motion upwards and above the wardrobe
Why the "a" is not translated only by "the" rather than "this" in this case? Is it because of the "fölé" before?
Actually, the "e" is translated as "this".
Let us break this down...
the wardrobe - a szekrény
this wardrobe - ez a szekrény
You might have read about this already before, there is extensive discussion in many places. Hungarian always places a definite article between the equivalent of this/that/these/those and the noun. Always.
this boy - ez a fiú
this table - ez az asztal
this country - ez az ország
this soup - ez a leves
The other thing to remember is that whatever suffix or postposition the noun gets, its partner follows suit. It gets suffixed or postpostitioned the same way. Kind of like synchronized swimming. So:
with this boy - ezzel a fiúval
under this table - ez alá az asztal alá
in this country - ebben az országban
for this soup - ezért a levesért
You get the idea.
So, what about this wardrobe?
this wardrobe - ez a szekrény
(to) above this wardrobe - e fölé a szekrény fölé
Literally: "this above the wardrobe above".
The article "ez" changed to "e" here, because it now stands in front of a consonant.
That's it.
Indeed :D Thanks for taking the time to reply (and in a very good way) ! Lingots on me!!
1214
Perhaps, when we are looking for something we are questioning in which direction is something.
I am not an expert neither in English nor in Hungarian.
It can be both. From the context, this lesson talks about moving somewhere, and not staying somewhere. Therefore, "fölé" is the right word here. In general, you are right: "above" is "fölött" or "fölé", just like "where?" is "hol?" or "hova?"
