# nàl/nél - than



## FRENFR

Difficult.

Using this website:  http://www.hungarianreference.com/Nouns/nál-nél-adessive.aspx (the last entry), I have arrived at a point of confusion.

The normal use I understand, it's a little like 'chez' in French, but when used instead of 'mint', I do not understand what you 'feel' when you say it.  Eszter told me that you use nal/nel moreso than mint?  I would suppose she is correct, being an educated Hungarian!?

Whilst I understand how to use it, (simply put nal/nel on the end of the comparative and imagine the word 'than' at the end of the sentence in English), what is your feeling when using nal/nel to mean 'than'.  It's particularly confusing because it seems so far removed from it's normal meaning of, basically, 'at'.  I don't see how it came to mean 'at' and 'than'!

Thank you in advance


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## Olivier0

Yes, _-nál_ means proximity, "at" (without mouvement), or with sby's name "chez" = "at sby's home".
If you want to explain its use with a comparative, I suppose it gives a fixed point "at" which you set the reference: _ennél nagyobb = nagyobb, mint ez_ "bigger than this", both are perfectly equivalent.


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## Ateesh6800

This is not a linguistic or scientific explanation, but think of it this way for mnemotechnics:

*A fa magasabb a háznál.* The tree is taller _than_ the house.
Whether it is really taller can only be judged by eyesight when it is _next to_ or_ at _the house.
If they are not within view at the same time, you can't judge.

When kids compare their heights, they stand _close to each other_ to see which one is *magasabb a másiknál*.

But again, this is only mnemotechnics.

* * *

*What do I feel?* I feel _exactly the same_ as when I say in English *"She's better looking than I am."*
Being a Hungarian native, I have _never_ thought of why *-nál, -nél* is used for comparisons of this type.
Up until your highly appreciated question. 

* * *

You might be interested to know that in old Hungarian texts and in current dialect speech there is another suffix used in this context for the exact same meaning:

Pista magasabb *tőlem*.
Steve is taller _than_ I.
(Lit. "Pista is taller _from_ me."

While this is now rare in everyday standard Hungarian, _it happens to be the same as in Spanish_:
*
More than...* is *más de*... in Spanish when you use it with numbers: *Tengo más de 5 dólares.*
This is the same *de* as in *Vengo de Altamira*; _I'm coming from Altamira._ Why *de*? What does a Spanish speaker feel?

There might be lingusitic rasons why it is *-nál/-nél*, bit for me, this is just a random convention.
It's what we use and we don't have any special feelings about it.

PS:

When in French you say "personne" in French in the meaning "nobody", what do you feel?
"Personne" means "a person" in every other language.
Knawmean?


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## FRENFR

If I had to write thanks every time you responsed so in depth, I'd literally have no fingertips, so thank you for now and the next... 10?  Can I thank in installments of 10?


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## muhahaa

See: http://wals.info/chapter/121


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## Ateesh6800

Muhahaa: nice catch, thank you.


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