"Who is a soldier?"
Translation:Ki katona?
11 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Nope! The 'is' is implied, so by adding 'van', it's like adding an extra 'is' that's already there, and makes the sentence meaningless
That is a different sentence.
Who is a soldier? - Ki katona?
Who is the soldier? - Ki a katona?
This is such an oddly worded sentence. You have to realize that the speaker is asking "which ones are soldiers" among a bunch of people who may or may not be soldiers.
Without the visual of a bunch of other people, I couldn't figure out what this sentence was saying (in either language). I literally read all the comments looking for hints. Am I thr only one who didnt "get" it?
Acceptable but in this case, it sounds inferior to "Ki katona?" You aren't a newly introduced instance of soldiers, nor is it important that you are one by amount. Your qualities matter.
I don't understand AT ALL: WHY ki katona, without van, but én vagyok a zénész, or turista vagyok??? Some say that the verb is implied, but WHEN is it not? I have been practising Hungarian for quite a while but never got an answer. I am sure I am not the only one to be puzzled.
How about this post?
When should we omit „van”? Main post: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/16545319
In this case: third person -> no verb
first person or second person -> yes, include vagyok /vagy
Of course, there are other cases where it is more complicated, see the other post I linked.