Conjugation in simple present
nr.	personal pronouns	to be - lenni	to like/to love - szeretni
		vagy + help sound + termination	vb + help sound + termination
sg.	én	-          (o)k	-          (e)k
	te	-          -	-          sz
	ő	van	-          -
pl.	mi	-          (u)nk	-           (ü)nk
	ti	-          tok	-          tek
	ők	-          nak	-          nek
Help sounds are always vowels: a,e,o, ö We need them when a word ends in a consonant and we would like to conjugate it.

Questions and answers about introduction

Basic question words

Who? - Ki?

What? - Mi? Mit?

Where? - Hol? Hova?

Why? - Miért?

Question structure -  the question word is always the first:

Ki (who) + to be verb - used for animate referents (people)

Mi (what) + definite article (the - a /az) + objective - used for inanimate referents and animals

Hol (where) + verb

Hová (to where) + verb

Miért (why) + verb

Characteristics - Jellemzők

When you would like to describe something or someone the basic form is using the adjective and the to be (lenni) verb in conjugated form. Just like when expressig people`s occupations (see previous post), in present tense either the pronoun or the verb is omitted.
In I and II person singular and plural the pronoun is deleted, while in III person singular and plural the copula verb is deleted and the pronoun can be deleted as well, however the subject can also be a noun (lenni), which cannot be omitted.

Note! Only pronouns can be omitted, never the nouns.
Note! The to be verb can only be omitted in present tense.

Example: I am small. = Kicsi vagyok. You are big. = Nagy vagy
                  It is small= Kicsi. They are big =Nagyok. 

Note! Unlike in English, adjectives always agreement with their subject in number. (In Hungarian adjectives can have the same plural marker -k as nouns)

Example: Az elefántok nagyok = The elephants are big

Adejctives when not used with the copula verb to be, the adjective always stands before the noun!

Example: A nagy elefántok sokat esznek. = The big elephants eat a lot.

When used in questions (just like in statements) the adjective comes first followed by the noun. Please note the tone and pitch are used to distinguished the question from the statement. 

 

 

Hobbyk

 Verbs in infinitive: verb + ni. The sufix -ni is the mark of the infinitive

To express, that a person likes to do something, the sentence structure will be the following: 

Szeretni  (in conjugated from) + verb in infinitive

szeretni_= to like

 

If you want to express the person who likes to do something, you have to conjugate the verb 

szeretni.

 

           sg.I. én szeretek

               II. te szeretsz

               III. ő szeret  

           pl.I. mi szeretünk

               II. ti szerettek

               III. ők szeretnek

The second verb will always stay in infinitive (impersonal) regardless of the person.

sg. Én szeretek gitározni

     Te szeretsz gitározni

     Ő szeret gitározni

pl. Mi szeretünk gitározni

     Ti szerettek gitározni

     Ők szeretnek gitározni

When used in questions (just like in statements) the adjective comes first followed by the noun. Please note the tone and pitch are used to distinguished the question from the statement. 
 

Ocupations - Foglalkozások

The accent always falls on the first syllable.

For expressing someone`s occupation we use the copula function of the verb to be (lenni). In this function either the verb or the pronoun is omitted depending on the person.

 

In III. person sg. and pl. the to be verb is omitted when expressing occupation (and traits or qualities of the subject), we say just the personal pronoun or the noun and the occupation or trait.

example: Éva nővér. Eve is a nurse.

                 Ő nővér. He/She is a nurse.

 

In I. and II. person sg. and pl. one can understand from the context to witch person the statement refers to, therefore the personal pronoun is omitted (unless used for emphasis) and the conjugated to be verb is at the end of the sentence.

example: Nővér vagyok. I am a nurse.

                Nővér vagy. You are a nurse.

 

Note! When expressing someone`s occupation, the noun referring to the occupation becomes an adjective, therefore no article is used.

Example: Jön az orvos. The medic is coming. (with definite article a, az)

                Jön egy orvos. A medic is coming. (with indefinite article egy)

                Éva orvos. Eve is a medic. (without article)

The mark of the plural is the sufix: -k. When attached to a word ending in a consonant, an extra vowel is inserted between the wordfinal consonant and the plural -k to help pronunciation. 

Examples: 

Ápoló - k

Nő - k 

Takarító - k

Orvos-ok

Nővér - ek

Doktor-ok

There are a few exceptions like the férfi, which end in an i vowel, but there still is a help sound, which is always a. So in plural férfi will be: férfi-ak

 

Exercise: Conjugate the to be verb using the ocupations in I. II. III. person singular and than in plural.

Example: Én férfi vagyok.Te férfi vagy. Ő férfi. Mi férfiak vagyunk. Ti férfiak Vagytok. Ők férfiak.

Én nő vagyok. Te nő vagy. Ő nő. Mi nők vagyunk. Ti nők vagytok. Ők nők.

 

When used as a question, the structure of the sentences will be the same, only the accent changes. For example: I am a man - Férfi vagyok. Am I a man - Férfi vagyok?

To practice the question forms, decline the ocupations in I. II. III. person singular and than in plural, at first as a statement, than as a question.

Exercise: Use the ocupations in I. II. III. person singular and than in plural based on the previous exercise

 

Exercise: Use the ocupations in I. II. III. person singular and than in plural, at first as a statement, than as a question based on the previous exercise. 

Do not forget: the structure of the sentence dos not change, just the accent.

Personal pronouns and the to be verb forms 

Személyes névmások és a létige alakjai

The accent  always falls on the first syllable.

Hungarian does not make gender differences neither in the use of nouns nor that of pronouns. Hungarian has one pronoun for both he and she: Ő.

 

However, like English, Hungarian also differentiates between animate and inanimate referents when in case of 3rd person pronouns: for animate referents we use Ő, for inanimate az. In Hungarian, as opposed to English, the inanimate third person pronoun also has a plural form: azok.  Traditionally animals would fall in the inanimate category (az, azok), but more recently the animate pronoun is also being used. 

 

Pronunciation of the personal pronouns

Conjugation of the to be verb

Special Hungarian Sounds - part I.

Special sounds: A, Á, J, S, SZ, É.

a-a                                                                       

j-y

s - sh

sz - s

é - ei

 

The sound A is pronounced as A in the english word war. 

The pronunciation of J sound is like the Y in the word york. 

When we have a single S we always pronounce it like SH in ship.

For the S sound as in set, Hungarian uses a lettercombination: SZ (S+Z). 

We pronounce the É sound similarly to EI in the word eight.

Exercies: ja jaja aj ajaj as sa sas sá sás ás sé és sza asz sa sá sé sza szá szé ja já jé

Special sounds: A, Á, Ö, Ü, GY, NY

Á- unrounded lips, vertically the tounge is in middle (central position), the jaws are opened to maximum, the air has a large space to come out -  back vowel

The pictures about pronouncing the A-O-Ő-Ű sounds are very similar. The main difference is that A and O are formed in the back of the oral cavity, while Ő and Ű are formed in the front (back vs. front  vowels).

 

A- semi rounded lips, vertically the tounge is lowered (low position), the lower jaw is lowered, the air has a large space to come out -  back vowel

Exercies: ma mama ba baba ha haha sa sasa ra rara ga gaga la lala maga baba tata
 

               

 

 

Ő - rounded lips, tounge in the middle, the air is coming out while the lips are rounded slightly downward -  this is a front vowel
 

Exercises: mö mömö bö böbö hö sö rö sör bör kör röt tör töröl pöröl pör köl öl öt öz ön ök
 

Ü - rounded lips, tounge in the middle, the air is coming out while the lips are rounded slightly upward - this is a front vowel

 

Exercises: mü mümü bü bür büz hü sü süsü rü kür üt küt hüt füt üz füz tük üg füg 

Exercies: mo momo bo bobo hoho so soso ro roro go gogo lo lolo logo bobo fofo toto

Exercises: mö mömö bö böbö hö sö rö sör bör kör röt tör töröl pöröl pör köl öl öt öz ön ök

Exercises: mü mümü bü bür büz hü sü süsü rü kür üt küt hüt füt üz füz tük üg füg 

GY - is a stop sound, when the middle part of the tounge is pushed up to the soft palate while the exhaling.

Exercises: gyi gyé gyá gyo gyö gyu gyü ügy ogy hogy egy agy ágy igyi egye agya
 

NY - is a stop sound, when the middle part of the tounge is pushed up to the front part of the palate (hard palate) while exhaling.

Exercises: nyi nyé nyá nyo nyö nyu nyű nyal nyál nyel nyul lany lány kony kiny kuny köny

Exercises: gyi gyé gyá gyo gyö gyu gyü ügy ogy hogy egy agy ágy igyi egye agya

Exercises: nyi nyé nyá nyo nyö nyu nyű nyal nyál nyel nyul lany lány kony kiny kuny köny

To be continued with more special sounds in part II.

Greetings - Köszönések

The acent is always on the first sylabe.

Jó reggelt!- Yo reggelt (regg - Greg without the G) 

Jó napot - Yo napot

Jó estét - Yo eshteit

Jó éjszakát - Yo eisakaat

We usually use the next expressions as good wihes when we say goodby. 

Kellemes napot! - Kellemesh napot! (Have a nice day!)

Vidám és szép napot kívánok! - Vidaam eish seip napot kívaanok! (I wish a cheerfull and nice day!)

Kellemes délutánt! - Kellemesh deilutaant! (Have a nice afternoon!)

Sziasztok! - Siastok (Hi in second person, plural)

Kellemes estét! - Kellemesh eshteit! (Have a nice evening!)

Jó munkát! - Yo munkaat! (Enyoj your work!)

Jó pihenést! - Yo piheneisht! (Have a good rest!)

Viszontlátásra! -Visontlaataashra (Good by!)