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- "A Parlament a folyó mellett …
"A Parlament a folyó mellett fekszik."
Translation:The Parliament lies next to the river.
26 Comments
In English, "the" for parliament wouldn't be used here. We would use either "Parliament" or "the Parliament building." "The Parliament" would refer to the body of people that make up the governmental organization.
The word 'Parlament' is one of the official name of the Hungarian parliament (the building). Shouldn't one use 'the' in this case, either?
This is a tricky one, I admit, in English, in that we can use the same base noun for both a structure and an organization. Adding the article "the" is the only way we use to differentiate the two. Capitalizing "Parliament" won't help in spoken English, so we have historically used "the" to allow us to differentiate. While Hungarian might use "A", to refer to the building, in English we would.
I don't perfectly understand. So 'the parliament' means the system/organization or the building?
Anyway, we use Parliament in Hungarian only in the case of the building. The organization is 'országgyűlés' (' country assembly' literally) or in a more complex way: 'parlamentáris rendszer' -'parliamentary system'.
Yep, I understand the difference in Hungarian. The problem is the lesson doesn't accept the proper English version.
So the 'Parliament' is the organization (it was a bit ambigious first from what you wrote).
Definitly report it next time. I think it could be fair to approve both because who is not a native Enlish speaker would write rather the Parliament in this case.
Often English speakers make this mistake too.
"The Parliament" is the legislative elected body of Government.
"The Parliament House" (a.k.a. "The Capitol") is where the above body convenes.
814
What you are saying is that the given translation says: politicians don't tell the truth (or have a nap) and they are next to the river.
We don't really use "lies" very often in colloquial American English. "Is" would be better in this sentence.
Well, maybe you don't - but it is still correct, and many times in English we do say it.
If it makes anybody feel better, in English we have "capitol" for the building housing the legislative body and "capital" for the city it meets in.
No, not only in American English!
For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Theatre,_Sydney
"A capitol is a building in which the legislative body of government meets." - in all English dialects - see: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/capital-vs-capitol/
- 391
Actually the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) which is a far better judge of UK English marks it as "American usage". Bryson's similarly marks it as US usage. What people call theatres or restaurants often plays on the exotic rather than language usage.
This translation is wrong.
"The Parliament" is the legislative body of elected members, not the building in which they assemble.
The correct translation here should be "The Parliament House" or "The Capitol [building]"
- 391
Except when people say they are "going to parliament" they mean the building where parliament sits. So the translation is perfectly fine for UK English - possibly not for US English.
Exactly. In English, removal of the article "the" implies the building, not the body.
I prefer "stands" rather than "lies" in spite of the Hungarian "fekszik". It should be accepted.
Buildings stand, they don't lie - but us this true in non-USA English?
In another sentence, translating "A Parlament" as "the Parliament" was marked wrong. It needed to be without "the".
And in this sentence, "the" is required, otherwise it is marked wrong. So I'm confused now.
