Slovak: “to make it move” with (po)hýbať, (po)hnúť, pohybovať, pohýnať

[Concise]

1. Apart from that 3 of them are perfective verbs, 3 of them are imperfective, can I say that their basic meanings are the very same, and it is “to make it move”?

2. Hnúť and hýbať seem to be a pair, as are pohnúť and pohýnať, but pohýbať and pohybovať are not linked to each other by the dics, see Slovenské slovníky and Slovenské slovníky, respectively.

Is it just a sort of inaccuracy, or there are slight differences between these last two words? I checked the 1st meaning of all the 6 verbs and could not identify real differences between the latter two either.

 

[francisgranada]

1. Apart from that 3 of them are perfective verbs, 3 of them are imperfective, can I say that their basic meanings are the very same, and it is “to make it move”?

I think yes, at least approximately ...

2. Hnúť and hýbať seem to be a pair, as are pohnúť and pohýnať, but pohýbať and pohybovať are not linked to each other by the dics, see Slovenské slovníky and Slovenské slovníky, respectively.

I'll give you the approximate Hungarian translations with no further explanation, even if I don't know if it will help you ...

(Po)hnúť - "(meg)mozdítani" (inchoative)
(Po)hýbať - "(meg)mozgatni" (imperfective)
Pohýnať - "mozdítgatni" (repetitive inchoative)
* Hýnať - does not exist

Pohybovať - "mozgatni" (repetitive imperfective)
* Hybovať - does not exist

My definitions in brackets are rather intuitive, not necessarily terminologically exact or "official" ...

 

[Concise]

It was useful, and I am really grateful that a Hungarian speaker reacted, because I know very well that the Hungarian verbs have more or less the same complexity if someone tries to use them properly.

But at the same time I got confused whether the pairing of these verbs by the dictionaries are correct or not. See

Hnúť and hýbať seem to be a pair, as are pohnúť and pohýnať

Moreover I am afraid your translation and categorisation must be finetuned or be explained more:

(Po)hnúť - "(meg)mozdítani" (inchoative)
(Po)hýbať - "(meg)mozgatni" (imperfective)

I guess you meant only pohnúť is the inchoative one, but hnúť is not.

And I was told by the dics that only hýbať is imperfective, pohýbať is perfective.

The repetitive aspect is clear, and your intuitive translations are in line with the definitions provided by the dics, in fact.

 

[francisgranada]

It was useful, and I am really grateful that a Hungarian speaker reacted, because I know very well that the Hungarian verbs have more or less the same complexity if someone tries to use them properly.

Yes, it is a bit easier to translate these Slovak nuances in Hungarian than in English. However my Hungarian translations are only approximate, as no exact translation from language A to language B is possible ...

But at the same time I got confused whether the pairing of these verbs by the dictionaries are correct or not. See

In this discussion I preferred not to take in consideration "pairing" and other possible theories and approaches. As the Slovak is my second language, I think my spontaneous or intuitive answers may be more "authentic" or helpful or informative than repeating what the dictionaries say ...

Moreover I am afraid your translation and categorisation must be finetuned or be explained more:

Yes, but the problem is that the grammatical analysis of the verbal endings and prefixes do not exactly correspond to practical usage of the verbs themselves. In theory, we could construct an "ideal scheme", but it would not fully correspond to the real or practical usage.

I guess you meant only pohnúť is the inchoative one, but hnúť is not.

The problem is that these two verbs are often used practically indifferently. See for example the past tense: *hnul in standard Slovak does not exist, instead *pohol is used (in Czech and Eastern Slovak dialect indeed the form hnul does exist). Etc ...

And I was told by the dics that only hýbať is imperfective, pohýbať is perfective.

Ok, I can agree, at least formally. In practice the verb pohýbať is rarely used. Trying to be more precise, pohýbať could be grammatically rather perfective repetitive. However, it is often really difficult to distinguish the imperfective from the repetitive aspect in Slovak ...

Etc ...

 

[Concise]

Long and straightforward answer. As I like.

Thanks.

The reference of the quasi non-existence of the past tense of hnúť is pretty useful for me. Until now I have not identified this sort of phenomenon, so you save me from wondering about it later, when I will meet the first instance of the missing past form.

Nagy vagy! ;-)