# Personal + possessive pronoun



## tarinoidenkertoja

Hello,
I wrote a simple sentence like: "A olaszod jobb, mint az  magyarom", this time , a native speaker corrected it as in: "A te olaszod jobb, mint az én magyarom". I can't understand why "te" and "én" are required in this case, is there any other case where the possessive pronoun must be preceded by the personal pronoun?


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## Zsanna

Hello tarino,

Your sentence was OK, don't worry, the corrected version just sounds more explicit, the opposition is more obvious like this. 

I suppose it is a little bit like in Italian, that the personal pronouns (io, tu, ecc.) are usually not used except when there is a special accent on them. Here, it seems a little bit like that. 
The possessive endings express whose knowledge of language you mean but if you put the personal pronouns before the nouns, the opposition between the two persons involved is underlined more clearly.

P.S. The personal pronoun can be put even if it is unstressed e.g. in special expressions (e.g. az én házam -- az én váram) but that complicates life a bit, you can leave it for later.


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## francisgranada

tarinoidenkertoja said:


> ... "A olaszod jobb, mint az  magyarom" ...


A little correction: "*Az *olaszod jobb, mint* a* magyarom"
(The original or "full" form of the article is "*az"*, but before a consonant this "*az*" becomes* "a"* for euphonic reasons. In the past it used to be written with apostophe: *a'*) 

I'd like to add to Zsanna's explanation that in your example, without giving more context, the _contrast _is emphasised (i.e. *Your *Italian versus *My *Hungarian), that's why "A *te* olaszod jobb, mint az *én* magyarom" sounds better. 

In Italian, in this case we cannot express the difference, but in some other cases yes (as Zsanna has already mentioned).   For example, instead of "Sono italiano, ma tu sei ungherese" it's better to say "*Io* sono italiano, ma tu sei ungherese".


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## Encolpius

Hmm...strange sentence...but I understand it's the literal translation...I think the Hungarian sentence means "your Italian girlfriend is better than my Hungarian girlfriend". 
I'd say: Jobban beszélsz olaszul, mint én magyarul.


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## Zsanna

It is true that it could be interpreted like that, too. In fact _any_ noun (e.g. book, letter, etc.) could come after Italian and Hungarian but this is why context helps!
Otherwise your suggestion is the most explicit version.


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## francisgranada

My "two cents"...

"Jobban beszélsz olaszul, mint én magyarul" is, of course, a much more natural way for expressing the idea we are talking about. The interpretation of "Az olaszod jobb, minta magyarom"  depends _only _on the context, as Zsanna has already said. I don't think at all, that this sentence/phrase, without any context, should "automatically" mean "your Italian girlfriend is better than my Hungarian girlfriend".

(there are also _boyfriends _... csak viccelek )


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## Encolpius

Unfortunately we must face the sad fact  now that Hungarian in this case is rather defective. Francisgranad and maybe Zsanna from Russian as well would know that in Hungarian words like that can mean at least four things, unlike Slavic languages, Slavic languages in that cas are the best! and use in all 4 cases a completely different word. in Czech e.g. 
1. olasz = italský = Italian (adjective)
2. olasz = Ital = an Italian 
3. olasz = Italka =  an Italian (woman)
4. olasz = italština = Italian language


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## francisgranada

I agree, but there's no contradiction. In all your examples, in the English equivalents you use only the word _Italian_, so it's not so bad (sad) with the Hungarian ...  

In Italian (Spanish, Portuguese ...), comparing with the English, the grammatical gender can be distinguished, but nothing more:

1. olasz = italský = italiano (adjective)
2. olasz = Ital = italiano 
3. olasz = Italka =  italiana
4. olasz = Italština = italiano


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## Encolpius

Sorry, in Russian there are three variations, Czech and Slovak is the best.  I'll ask the All Slavic forum right away...


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## francisgranada

Encolpius said:


> Sorry, in Russian there are three variations, Czech and Slovak is the best.  I'll ask the All Slavic forum right away...


As far as I remember, you are right (there's no special equivalent for words like  Italština).


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## Zsanna

Let us not forget that we are discussing a_ Hungarian_ sentence and therefore after adjectives_ any_ noun can come that fits, and even if the adjective is used without (like in our example), it can replace any of those that could follow it in a full form.


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## Akitlosz

Both versions are correct.
"Te" and "én" are not required, but stronger, as always in the Hungarian language.


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