# Which street is this?



## Serdja

How would you say this sentence in Hungarian: *Which street is this*?

My try:

Melyik ez az utcá?


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## AndrasBP

Hello,

'Melyik ez az utc*a*?'
Your sentence is grammatically possible, but if you want to mean 'What is the name of this street?', I would use:

*'Ez milyen utca?'*

Please note that in other situations, 'milyen?' can mean 'kakav?', like when you're asking about the quality of something, e.g.: 'Is this street nice/narrow/dirty, etc?'


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## AndrasBP

*Ez melyik utca?* is also possible.


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## Serdja

Thank you very much.
Could You please explan, where is the difference between ''melyik'' and ''milyen'' here.
As I understand, ''milyen'' means ''what kind of'' and ''melyik'' means ''which one''. Or in this case, they are synonyms?


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## Zsanna

Hello Serdja,

They could be synonyms but it depends on what you really want to know by asking this question. 
Here, the question itself offers different interpretations, so it would be better if you gave us a context, that way we could explain better the difference between the various possibilities.


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## Serdja

-Well, in a context of ''Which street is this (what's the name of this street''


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## Zsanna

OK. In this case both _Ez melyik utca?_ or _Ez milyen utca?_ are correct. 
The difference is either none or - as you have already referred to it - _melyik_ = which (e.g. of the two I know _or_ all that exist in this town) and _milyen_ =what sort/ what kind. 
I have to add that an answer to _milyen_ doesn't necessarily have to be an adjective (e.g. main/side/clean/dirty street). It is the question you'd think first if you wanted to know the name of the street you are in. We consider the name of the street as a sort of adjective (instinctively). 

Maybe just the same way as you could ask for someone's family name like this (especially as it precedes the Christian name in Hungarian): 
A: _Milyen_ Péter? 
B: _Molnár_ Péter.

P.S.
I forgot to add that _melyik _and _milyen _can be considered synonyms in this case but it is sure that the first asks for the name to be able to separate this street from the rest (of the streets) in town, meanwhile the second makes the distinction on the basis of the names of streets existing in town. 
(Sorry, it sounds much more complicated than it is really.)


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## francisgranada

Serdja said:


> Could You please explan, where is the difference between ''melyik'' and ''milyen'' here.
> As I understand, ''milyen'' means ''what kind of'' and ''melyik'' means ''which one''. Or in this case, they are synonyms?


In my opinion _milyen _can mean also _melyik _in certain circumstances, but not viceversa. I think this "logic" works also in some other languages as well, e.g. in Slovak (or Czech, I don't know if also in Serbian): _Ktorá (=melyik) ulica je to?_ and _Aká (=milyen) ulica je to?_ can have practically the same meaning.

As to the word order _Melyik ez az utca? / Ez melyik utca? _ - it's another matter and not easy to explain the difference ... I think this could be discussed separately, as it is a more complex/general question.


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## Ben Jamin

Serdja said:


> -Well, in a context of ''Which street is this (what's the name of this street''



"What street is this?" is correct to ask in English if you want to know the name of the street.
If you ask "Which street is this" you must have several alternatives (at leat two), for instance:

Which street is this? The one that leads to the harbour, or the one that leads to the railway station?


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## tvigh

The reason why both are correct is that you're asking the two questions from different aspects but with practically the same meaning.

"Ez melyik utca?" may be expanded as "A város mely utcája ez?" "Which street of the city is this?" sounds legit in English too.
At the same time, "Ez milyen utca" is also correct because street names are attributes.


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