"The new boy lives in it."
Translation:Az új fiú lakik benne.
8 Comments
This is a common misconception. There's nothing inherently "personal" about ő.
Tegnap megvettem a könyveket, ma elolvasom őket. (=I bought the books yesterday, I'm going to read them today.)
Őbenne should be accepted.
Which I do not agree with completely, sorry. "Őbenne" is very strongly personal to me. Yes, "őket" can be used for objects. But "ő általa", "ővele", "őbenne", etc., are personal.
Why is that? I am not sure.
But let's try this: let us remove the "ő":
"Általa", "vele", "benne" - good, existing words. So let's use them for the impersonal versions.
How about "őket"?
"Ket" is not a word. So, let's use "őket" for both personal and impersonal purposes.
A little update on this...
"Őket" is indeed used in both personal and impersonal ways.
"Elolvasom őket" - books
"Ismerem őket" - people
etc.
But it is possibly the only exception, or one of a few exceptions.
Let's just change it to singular: "őt".
"Elolvasom őt." - It does not sound right to me.
I would say either "Elolvasom." or "Elolvasom azt."
For other suffixes, I would recommend using the "ő"-less versions ("benne", "miatta", "vele", "belőle"), or the "az" product line, more specifically offered for impersonal purposes: "abban", "amiatt", "azzal", "abból", "azáltal", etc.
This is just a general guideline. Of course, there can be situations when we go a different way. There is no rule against that, this is just the general usage.
All this 'őbenne', 'őáltala', 'ővele' is simply extremely archaic and solemnly(?) formal. Not many people use these forms, in normal speech/writing you use 'benne', 'vele'.. not even 'általa', that is also archaic.
Have I heard that phrase in Hungarian catholic church 'őáltala, ővele, őbenne'? (Through him, with him, in him).
