# 'dőlve'



## Ригель

Sziasztok!

I've been trying to decode this word for quite some time now without success. Here is the whole sentence:

"Karcsi és Jóska a faliújságnak dőlve napozott."

It would seem to me that the sentence translates like:

"Karcsi and Jóska were leaning against the bulletin board, sunbathing."

However, I don't understand how the verb _dől _is inflected into _dőlve _or whether that is the case in the first place. It doesn't seem to be a postpostion either, quite frankly I don't know what this thingy is but it seems to be a common construction: [X]-nak/nek dőlve - leaning against [X]


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## Ateesh6800

This is not _conjugation_; it is _word formation_. *Verb root + -va/-ve* gives you an *adverb *answering the question _*"How?"*_ or _*"Doing what?"*_.

To give a translation that best reflects the underlying grammar, take a look at this:

Basic sentence:
*"Karcsi és Jóska napozott."*
"Karcsi and Jóska were sunbathing."

Basic sentence plus an adverbial expression:
*"Karcsi és Jóska a faliújságnak dőlve napozott."*
"Karcsi and Jóska, _leaning against the bulletin board_, were sunbathing."
"Karcsi and Jóska were sunbathing _leaning against the bulletin board_."
"_Leaning against the bulletin board_, Karcsi and Jóska were sunbathing."

Further examples:

A lovak áll*va* alszanak. _Horses sleep standing._
Nem kényelmes ül*ve* aludni. _It is not comfortable to sleep setting._
Fut*va* közelít a postás. _The mailman comes running._
Ez a színész énekel*ve* beszél. _This actor speaks "singing"._ (I.e. his intonation is way too theatrical and exaggerated).

*A.*


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## Zsanna

Our suffix -*va*/-*ve* (following the verb in its Present 3rd pers.Sing form) is (here) the equivalent of the English Present Participle (verb+ing). 

This is why the right translation of your sentence is "Karcsi and Jóska, _*leaning* against the bulletin board_, were sunbathing.", as Ateesh suggested.

How to choose between -va/-ve?
According to the vocal harmony of your verb, i.e. (roughly) after 
- low vowels: -*va* (_takar_+va, _mond_+va, _fúr_+va) (often after i/í as well _ír_+va)
- high vowels: -*ve* (_él_+ve, _öl_+ve, _ül_+ve)

The use can be the same as in English
Egy széken *ülve* beszélt -> He was talking, *sitting* on a chair.

or different (for various reasons, Ateesh has given examples above where the English could be a little or completely different; here I'm giving one where the Hungarian would be.)
Going to the Post Office he lost his umbrella. -> A postára menet elvesztette az esernyőjét. (_Menet_ just sounds better than _menve_ here.)

More on it here.


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