Ahelyett, hogy az elemeket zsákba tennénk, a gyűjtőpontra visszük.

Instead of putting the batteries in a sack, we take them to the collection point.

Breakdown of Ahelyett, hogy az elemeket zsákba tennénk, a gyűjtőpontra visszük.

• az: the
• tenni: to put
• ahelyett, hogy: instead of
• vinni: to carry

Questions & Answers about Ahelyett, hogy az elemeket zsákba tennénk, a gyűjtőpontra visszük.

What does Ahelyett, hogy mean?

It is a very common Hungarian expression meaning instead of ...ing or rather than ....

Structure:

• ahelyett = instead of that / rather than that
• hogy = that

So the pattern Ahelyett, hogy + clause introduces the action that is not done, and the main clause gives the action that is done.

In this sentence:

• Ahelyett, hogy az elemeket zsákba tennénk = instead of putting the batteries in a bag
• a gyűjtőpontra visszük = we take them to the collection point

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Why is the verb tennénk in the conditional, not something like tesszük?

After Ahelyett, hogy, Hungarian very often uses the conditional.

So:

• tennénk = we would put
• not tesszük = we put

This is the normal idiomatic pattern. It presents the first action as the rejected or unreal alternative:

• Ahelyett, hogy tanulnál, tévét nézel.
  Instead of studying, you watch TV.

So in your sentence, zsákba tennénk literally means we would put [them] in a bag, but in natural English it is best translated simply as putting them in a bag after instead of.

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What does mean here? I thought meant .