A lány az ablak előtt fésülködik, a fésű pedig a tükör mellett van.

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Breakdown of A lány az ablak előtt fésülködik, a fésű pedig a tükör mellett van.

• előtt: in front of
• mellett: next to
• tükör: the mirror

Questions & Answers about A lány az ablak előtt fésülködik, a fésű pedig a tükör mellett van.

Why is it a lány but az ablak?

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before a consonant sound
• az before a vowel sound

So:

• a lány = the girl
• az ablak = the window

The same rule appears elsewhere too:

• a tükör = the mirror
• a fésű = the comb

Even though fésű starts with the letter f, it still takes a because f is a consonant.

What does előtt mean, and why does it come after ablak?

Előtt means in front of / before.

Hungarian often uses postpositions instead of prepositions. That means the word comes after the noun, not before it.

So:

• az ablak előtt = in front of the window

Literally, Hungarian structures it more like:

• the window in-front-of

This is normal in Hungarian. The same pattern appears in:

• a tükör mellett = next to the mirror

Why is it fésülködik instead of just a verb meaning comb?