A diákok közösen tanulnak a tanteremben.

the student

Breakdown of A diákok közösen tanulnak a tanteremben.

• -ben: in
• tanulni: to study
• tanterem: the classroom
• közösen: together

Questions & Answers about A diákok közösen tanulnak a tanteremben.

Why is the word közösen placed in the sentence like that?

In Hungarian, adverbs of manner like közösen (meaning "together" or "collectively") often come before the verb to describe how the action is done. It is grammatically correct to place közösen directly before tanulnak to emphasize the manner in which the students are studying.

What is the role of a before diákok and tanteremben?

Hungarian uses the definite article a (or az before a vowel) similarly to "the" in English. Here, a diákok means "the students," and a tanteremben is "in the classroom." The preposition-like suffix -ban/-ben attaches to tanterem to indicate location ("in the classroom"). So a tanteremben translates to "in the (actual) classroom."

Is there a reason we use tanulnak (indefinite) rather than a definite form like tanulják?

Yes. In Hungarian, the definite conjugation is used if there is a definite direct object. In this sentence, there is no direct object (they are just studying "in general," not studying something specific), so the indefinite conjugation tanulnak is correct.

Could the sentence order be changed?

Hungarian word order is relatively flexible due to its case and suffix system. You might see variations like A tanteremben tanulnak közösen a diákok, but the emphasis changes slightly. The given form A diákok közösen tanulnak a tanteremben is a natural neutral order emphasizing who (the students) and how (together) they are studying.

What if I want to say the students are studying together outside of the classroom?

You could change a tanteremben (in the classroom) to a tantermen kívül (outside of the classroom). The rest of the sentence structure can stay the same: A diákok közösen tanulnak a tantermen kívül.