"Lehetetlen!"

Translation: Impossible!

[RyagonIV]

One of my favourite words.

[norbix9]

"Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért" - My favourite one xdd Our language is one of the best ones right?xd

[RyagonIV]

It's really fun what you can do with it. Long words are cool, but sometimes I just like the sounds of things. "Lehetetlen" just rolls off the tongue easily. The vowel harmony plays a big part in this. <3

[norbix9]

"Szeretlek" might sound fine for you too then :3 It means "I love you", one of the most beautiful words of the language.

[wolfleis]

Then you will love rettenetesek(you are terrible).
Or: rettenetesek vagytok hogy tüsszentettetek (it's terrible how you sneezed)

[Ishana92]

what does that sausage of a word mean?

[RyagonIV]

Something weird.

[Ishana92]

that whole section is kind of scary

[RyagonIV]

You get used to it if you delve into agglutinating languages. :D

[aoyagi_uirou]

Can you explain the original composition of this word?
Like "impossible" is "im"+"possible " (not+able)
or "im"+"poss"+"ible" (not+have+able).

[joemagyarul]

the -hat/-het suffix adds a "potential" meaning to the verb, like the english auxiliary could; for example, repülhet = could fly. The verb lenni=to be with -het gives lehet, roughly the verb could be.

Then the -etlen/-atlan suffix roughly means -less; when added to a noun or verb, it means the "lack of" the stem. And the lack of "could-be-ness" is what impossible means.

[aoyagi_uirou]

Thank you, Joeinthetheory, for the quick, proper and kind response. This helps me a lot to understand this word and maybe to many others.
It's interesting that "-het" is "could" instead of "can".

and I guess "could-be-ness" is a simply mistyping of "could-be-less" from this context.OK?

Thank you !!!!!!

[joemagyarul]

Well, I meant that could-be-less is a lack of could-be-ness...

English could and can (and may) are very close, and similarly whether to use tud or -het is an important distinction. There is a difference between tud repülni (an ability to fly: "the bird can fly, but the person can't") versus repülhet (a potential to fly: "the person could fly, but will take the train instead).

[aoyagi_uirou]

Sorry, I misread your explanation. ok, [ lehetetlen ] is [ a lack of "could-be-ness" ].

And you make it clear, another point, that "could" is not a meaning of the past sentence but the meaning of potentiality. Do I understand it properly? Also this helps me a lot to get magyar deeper.

Thank you !!!!!!

[RyagonIV]

The -hat/-het suffix is more about ability than anything else. I think "can" would be a better word here, and conversely "cannot" for the combination -hatatlan/-hetetlen.

• láthatatlan - from lát - cannot be seen = invisible
• elérhetetlen - from ér - cannot be reached = unavailable
• érthetetlen - from ért - cannot be understood = unintelligible

For the positive versions you use -ható/-hető:

• látható - visible
• elérhető - available
• érthető - understandable

Lehet and its relatives are a bit more special. "Possible" is most often better translated as lehetséges instead of lehető. Also lehet derives from van - to be, which shares its infinitive form with another verb. The other verb is lesz - to become, and the infinitive is lenni, like Joe said already.

[aoyagi_uirou]

thank you, RyagonIV, for the further information. I feel that I can absorb new words more easily.
I don't know why but I can't give you response under your comment, so I leave this here.
Thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[aoyagi_uirou]

Oh, It goes under your comment automatically. It's no problem. lol.

[Ksenia139960]

https://magyartanulas.github.io/word_building/

This website gives some explaination to word building.

[KevinArmstrong1]

Brilliant, thank you.