Breakdown of Tele van a piknikkosár, úgyhogy külön visszük a termoszt.
lenni
to be
az
the
külön
separately
tele
full
Questions & Answers about Tele van a piknikkosár, úgyhogy külön visszük a termoszt.
What does tele van mean, and why are there two words instead of just one word for full?
Tele means full, but in Hungarian the common predicate is the expression tele van, literally something like is full.
So:
- Tele van a piknikkosár. = The picnic basket is full.
This is a very normal Hungarian structure. You should learn tele van as a set phrase.
You can also say what something is full of:
- A kosár tele van étellel. = The basket is full of food.
In your sentence, the content is not named; it just says the basket is full.
Why is the sentence Tele van a piknikkosár instead of A piknikkosár tele van?
Both are possible, but the word order changes the focus slightly.
- Tele van a piknikkosár. puts emphasis on the state full.
- A piknikkosár tele van. is also correct and feels more like The picnic basket is full with the basket as the starting topic.
Hungarian word order is flexible and often reflects emphasis and information structure rather than strict English-style sentence order. In this sentence, starting with tele highlights the reason for what comes next.
What does úgyhogy mean?