"This airplane does not take off the ground, but the water."

Translation: Ez a repülőgép nem földről száll fel, hanem vízről.

[Oldfatdad]

The English says "the water". I don't understand why this would not be "a vízről" instead of just "vízről".

[jsiehler]

I read the Hungarian sentence as a general statement about the plane: it's designed to take off from water, not from the ground. We're not talking about it taking off from a specific body of water ("the" water) right now. To me, though, it doesn't sound quite so good in English to say "takes off from water" for some reason, and I don't think I'd ever say "takes off from ground."

If the Hungarian sentence had the definite articles in it - a földről and a vízről - then it could be read either way, and some context would be needed to understand it for sure.

[Oldfatdad]

Thanks. I have to keep reminding myself (something a seldom do) that Hungarian sometimes uses A when it does not mean it and sometimes omits it when English would use it. The problem is that I only remember that sometimes.

[ray0917]

This is a hidroplan :-) :-) :-)

[jeliason]

"This airplane does not take off from the ground but from the water." is the correct English sentence.
I think the article should be in the Hungarian sentence whether it is general or specific.