"The worker has an old faulty radio."
Translation:A munkásnak van egy régi rossz rádiója.
16 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
when is it necessary to include "egy"? I wrote "a munkásnak van régi rossz rádiója", without "egy"
275
It's generally optional but does emphasise the singleness of the object. If you were to ask someone whether they had a pen, you would probably not use "egy", since you wouldn't expect them to reply in the negative, if they had two.
Similarly, how do I know if "van" comes before or after the object?
- 275
From my understanding, it can be before or after. After would put focus on what is owned rather than who is owning it.
Why is the "egy" necessary here? ("A munkásnak van régi rossz rádiója" was marked wrong)
- 275
While you're waiting for someone more knowledgeable to answer this, a rule of thumb seems to be that if the object is countable (like radios, unlike molasses) and has adjectives (and, of course, has no definite article and is not a general statement), then "egy" is likely to be required.
Another suggestion that has been made is that if you are expecting to refer to it later in the conversation, then "egy" should be used. If you were to say, "The other day, a woman came into the store.", chances are that you are about to tell something about what that woman did, so you'd use an "egy".
- 1502
why is "A munkásnak egy régi rossz rádiója van." not accepted, when in another exercise "Jánosnak öt gyűrűje van." with the "van" at the end is?
Are you sure? As I see, "A munkásnak egy régi rossz rádiója van" is accepted here.
- 1502
Thank you, maybe I had another spelling mistake. Though I thought, I had a thorough look before posting my question.
- 888
I'm not quite sure that is right... I omitted "egy" for at least three previous sentences in this lesson that were seemingly completely equivalent (the possessed objects being kutya, ruha, ház, etc.) How is this different?!
- 888
That was meant to be a reply to Greg Wood. Please, someone help with this question! Why is "a munkasnak van régi rossz rádioja" incorrect??
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In many instances, Mr. D. allows you to include an "egy" or omit it at your discretion. What I wrote was to help people to decide when to and when not to include an "egy", and, hopefully, stay in Mr. D's good books. Had you included an "egy" on those previous occasions, you might still have been marked correct. Did those other "equivalent" sentences also include adjectives before the noun in question? I don't think possession plays much of a part in determining whether or not an "egy" is required.
Again the "van" placement question. Isn't the emphasis on what the worker has, the "old, faulty radio," and shouldn't therefore that precede "van"?
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Elsewhere on this page, jzsuzsi asserts that "A munkásnak egy régi rossz rádiója van" is accepted. Could you have made a typo somewhere?