Breakdown of Amint megérkezik a villamos, átszállok rá, és azonnal indulok tovább.
és
and
azonnal
immediately
villamos
the tram
amint
as soon as
Questions & Answers about Amint megérkezik a villamos, átszállok rá, és azonnal indulok tovább.
What does amint mean here, and how is it different from amikor?
Here amint means as soon as or the moment.
It is stronger than amikor, which usually just means when.
So:
- Amikor megérkezik a villamos... = When the tram arrives...
- Amint megérkezik a villamos... = As soon as the tram arrives...
In this sentence, amint fits well because the next actions happen immediately after the tram arrives.
Why are megérkezik, átszállok, and indulok in the present tense if the sentence talks about the future?
Hungarian often uses the present tense for future events when the time is already clear from context.
Here, the sequence is obviously future because of amint and the overall meaning:
- first the tram arrives,
- then I transfer,
- then I continue.
So Hungarian does not need a separate future marker here. This is very natural. Using fog forms would usually sound heavier or less natural in a sentence like this.
What does megérkezik mean exactly, and what does the prefix meg- do?