# tanít (grammar)



## Katalijn

I don't to use the verbs "tanítani" and  "megtanítani". I don't know whether I have to use with accusative or dative.  Please translate the following sentences!

He teaches me to read. = Engem tanít .... • Nekem tanít • Tanít hogyan kell olvasnom.
He teaches me English.
I will teach to read when I have time. =  ... amikor időm van.
My Mother taught me to read (when I was four years old).


Thanks a lot in advance!


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## jazyk

I think the dative is possible only when there is also an accusative in the sentence. 

Olvasni tanít engem(et). 
Tanítja nekem az angol nyelvet./Angol nyelvet tanít nekem. 
Megtanítok olvasni, ha lesz időm. 
Az anyám megtanított (engem/engemet) olvasni, amikor négy éves voltam.


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## Saadj

He teaches me to read  - _Olvasni_ tanít (_engem - _accusative) or _Olvasást_ (acc) tanít (_nekem_ - dative)
He teaches me English.  - Angolul tanít (engem) or Angolt (acc) tanít nekem (dative is possible)
I will teach to read when I have time - Olvasást fogok tanítani, amikor lesz időm  (in general)
My Mother taught me to read (when I was four years old). - Anyám _meg_tanított (completed action) olvasni (engem, accusative), amikor négy éves voltam.


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## Zsanna

Jazyk, Saadj,  .

Jazyk, when you wrote:  "Megtanítok olvasni, ha lesz időm." my immediate reaction was that it is not used like this, you just have to add a little thing: megtanítok *valakit* olvasni... (or "olvasást fogok tanítani" as Saadj suggested). But the English original is a bit strange, too, so this may be why you didn't think of it.


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## jazyk

Exactly!


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## francisgranada

For curiosity, for me the construction with dative is not "natural", i.e. I do not use it spontaneously. Of course, I know that it is used and that it is possible.

I don't know if the absence of the dative construction is a regional feature (in the North-East of the Hungarian speaking area)  or the construction with the dative is an innovation that originally did not exist. What do you think about?


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## Zsanna

@ francis: when it is used in the right way, it sounds natural to me but I _suspect_ that in such a construction the use of _nekem_, _neked_, etc. can be left out, meanwhile in the construction with the accusative, it (a noun in the acccusative) is more often needed (e.g. in the one above I quoted from jazyk). 
But this would need more factual support...


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