Lesson Three: Intro to Verbs & More
Vocabulary
tanul - he, she, it studies, learns ért - he, she, it understands beszél - he, she, it speaks lakik - he lives eszik - he eats (irregular infinitve enni) ül - he, she, it sits lát - he, she, it sees dolgozik - he, she, it works étterem - restaurant nem - not de - but magyarul - Hungarian (adverb, used with the verbs 'study' and 'speak') angolul - English (adverb like magyarul) -ban/-ben - suffix in Some sample sentences: Beszél magyarul? Does he (or you formal) speak Hungarian? Nem, angolul beszél. No, he speaks English.
Nem lakik Londonban. He doesn't live in London Grammar
Verbs
In the above vocabulary, you were given several verbs in their 3rd person singular form. This is the verb stem and is very important. To this stem, Hungarian attaches suffixes to signify person and number. The suffixes are as follows for the indefinite (don't worry about what this means until Lesson Four) present tense conjugation: singular plural 1st person -ok, -ek, -ök -unk, -ünk 2nd person -sz -tok, -tek, -tök 3rd person nothing -nak, -nek You may be wondering why there is sometimes more than one suffix in a box. Well, this is where vowel harmony becomes important. In the above table, where there is more than one suffix listed the first one is used for back verbs, the second for front verbs, and the third for ö,ő,ü,ű verbs. Look at the following three tables for the conjugations of the back verb 'tanul' and the front verbs 'beszél' and 'ül'.
tanulni - to study én tanulok mi tanulunk te tanulsz ti tanultok ő/maga tanul ők/maguk tanulnak beszélni - to speak én beszélek mi beszélünk te beszélsz ti beszéltek ő/maga beszél ők/maguk beszélnek In the following table, only the suffixes which differ from a regular front verb are in boldface: ülni - to sit én ülök mi ülünk te ülsz ti ültök ő/maga ül ők/maguk ülnek Notes: The form ending in -ni above each table is the infinitive form. However, in most dictionaries and in these lessons you will find the verbs given in their third person singular form (e.g. tanul, ért). The present tense corresponds to English 'I study', 'I am studying', and 'I do study'.
Some exceptions:
1. Many Hungarian verbs stems end in -ik. With these verbs there are two things to note. The -ik appears only in the 3rd person singular, it is dropped before adding other suffixes. And for the first person singular, the suffixes don't end with 'k' but with 'm'. So the verb lakik (lakni) 'to live' is conjugated: lakom, laksz, lakik, lakunk, laktok, laknak. (Note: Some Hungarians do not follow this rule and therefore would say lakok, etc., but that is not correct).
2. Verb stems ending in -s, -z, or -sz have alternate endings for the 2nd person singular for phonetic reasons. The suffix is -l, preceded by the appropriate link vowel, o, e, or ö. So the verb eszik 'to eat' (an -ik verb also) is conjugated: eszem, eszel, eszik, eszünk, esztek, esznek.
3. Verb stems ending in two consonants or -ít require a link vowel a/e/ö before the -sz, -nak/-nek, and -ni (infinitive) suffixes. And before the -tok/-tek suffix there must be a link vowel o/e/ö. Here is the verb mond (mondani) 'to say': mondok, mondasz, mond, mondunk, mondotok, mondanak.
This is enough about verbs for one lesson!
The -ban/-ben Suffix
The English prepositions 'in' and 'inside' correspond to the suffix -ban/-ben in Hungarian. By now you know all about vowel harmony, so you know that -ban is used for back words and -ben is used for front words. Negation
Negation is simple. Just add nem before the verb. More sample sentences: Tanulok Philadelphiában. I am studying (or I study) in Philadelphia.
Értek, de nem értesz. I understand, but you don't understand.
Én nem lakom Los Angeles-ben, de o" ott lakik. I don't live in Los Angeles, but he lives there.
Magyarul beszéltek? Nem, angolul beszélünk. Do you (plural) speak Hungarian? No, we speak English.
Látsz? Do you see?
Itt ülnek. They are sitting here.
Translate the following sentences into English: 1. Tanulnak Rómában. 2. Nem beszélek angolul. 3. Ott lakom. 4. Jól beszélsz magyarul. 5. Ki ért? Translate the following into Hungarian: 6. I am eating. 7. Do you (singular, formal) study Hungarian? 8. He is sitting here also. 9. Where do you (plural) study. 10. That waiter works in the restaurant.
For learning
Hungarian | Category
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Second language
English | Created
Jun 27, 2008 04:01 | Views
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