"Gazdagok, híresek és senki sem áll őfölöttük."
Translation:They are rich, famous and nobody stands above them.
12 Comments
I didn't understand the sentence at all, without an Ök at the beginning. And why is SEM in the Hungarian sentence and NOT in the English?
For a learner it might be hard to understand without the subject, but in Hungarian we often leave it out because it is obvious from the form of the verb, adjective, etc.
When you have a negative sentence in English which contains the "any-" words, or an affirmative that contains the "no-" words, you use these Hungarian words for it:
anybody/nobody = senki sem
anything/nothing = semmi sem
anywhere/nowhere = sehol sem
Notice how these words are formed: se(n) + ki (who?); se(m) + mi (what?); se + hol (where?).
You can conjugate these words as required (senkit, semmivel, sehonnan) and then add "sem" - senkit sem, semmivel sem...
These words can be any part of the sentence, just like in English:
Nobody loves me. = Senki sem szeret (engem).
I'm not going with anybody. = (Én) Senkivel sem megyek.
I don't love anybody. = (Én) Senkit sem szeretek.
You're welcome!
And you can also use "se" or "nem" instead of "sem".
Other uses of se/sem:
-
I don't like apples. - I don't either. = (Én) Nem szeretem az almát. - Én se(m).
-
I don't have neither a cat nor a dog. = (Nekem) Se macskám, se kutyám nincs.
343
In your everyday indicative sentences, you use nem and sem. Nem for a simple negation, sem as a variant of "is nem", meaning "not... either".
If you use them together with negating pronouns - soha, semmi, semelyik and so on - they are pretty much identical.
Ne and se have the same relation, but they are used in imperative sentences: "Ne beszélj!" - "Don't speak!"
I reckon that HetaLilla using se in an indicative sentences is a bit more colloquial in the first example, but in the second example "se ... se" actually means "neither... nor".
I think this sentence would be a lot clearer with the simple addition of ők at the begininng...
In english this sentence is clear whom is being spoken about without 'They are...' it is them being spoken about.
This sentence makes no sense in English. .. I am suspicious of the Hungarian too...
- 343
"They are rich, they are famous, and nobody stands/is above them." Like, they are at the very top. The commoners' rules don't apply to them. That mindset is what this sentence wants to communicate.
The Hungarian sentence is pretty alright.
