Sem figyelmeztetést, sem választ nem kaptam.

not

Breakdown of Sem figyelmeztetést, sem választ nem kaptam.

• válasz: the answer
• sem: neither
• sem: nor

Questions & Answers about Sem figyelmeztetést, sem választ nem kaptam.

Why are there two sems in this sentence?

Because Hungarian uses sem ... sem to mean neither ... nor.

So:

• sem figyelmeztetést
• sem választ

together mean neither a warning nor an answer.

This is a very common Hungarian pattern:

• Sem teát, sem kávét nem kérek. = I want neither tea nor coffee.
• Sem Péter, sem Anna nem jött el. = Neither Péter nor Anna came.

So the repeated sem is not redundant; it is the normal way to connect two negative alternatives.

Why is nem also there? Doesn’t sem ... sem already make the sentence negative?

This is one of the most important things for English speakers to notice: in Hungarian, negative words often appear together with the negative particle nem.

So even though sem ... sem already gives the idea of neither ... nor, the verb still stays negative:

• Sem figyelmeztetést, sem választ nem kaptam.

Literally, Hungarian is comfortable with something like:

• Neither warning, nor answer, I did not receive.

In natural English, that would sound like a double negative, but in Hungarian it is completely normal grammar.

What does kaptam mean exactly?