Sem a tanú, sem a bejelentő nem vár itt.

Neither the witness nor the complainant is waiting here.

Breakdown of Sem a tanú, sem a bejelentő nem vár itt.

• itt: here
• várni: to wait
• az: the
• nem: not

Questions & Answers about Sem a tanú, sem a bejelentő nem vár itt.

What does sem ... sem mean in this sentence?

It means neither ... nor.

So Sem a tanú, sem a bejelentő nem vár itt means Neither the witness nor the complainant/reporting person is waiting here.

A useful extra point: sem can have other negative meanings in other sentences, but when it appears in the pattern sem X, sem Y, it is the standard way to say neither X nor Y.

Do I have to repeat sem before both nouns?

Yes. In this construction, Hungarian normally repeats it:

sem a tanú, sem a bejelentő

That repetition is what gives the clear neither ... nor structure. Using sem only once would not sound right here.

Why is there nem as well? Isn’t sem ... sem already negative?

Yes, the whole idea is negative, but Hungarian normally uses negative concord here. That means the verb is also marked as negative:

Sem a tanú, sem a bejelentő nem vár itt.

So even though English already feels complete with neither ... nor, Hungarian still wants nem before the verb. This is normal and required in standard Hungarian.

Why is there a before both tanú and bejelentő?