Lesson One: Some Basics
Vocabulary
magyar (remember gy is pronounced like dy) - Hungarian
igen - yes
nem - no, not
angol - English
amerikai (remember to pronounce the last two vowels separately) - American
nyelv - language
szép - beautiful
itt - here
nő - woman
férfi - man
nagyon - very
város - city
és - and
vagyok - I am
könnyű - easy
Some sample sentences:
A nő magyar és a férfi angol.
The woman is Hungarian and the man is English.
A város nagyon szép.
The city is very beautiful.
Amerikai vagyok.
I am American.
A magyar nyelv könnyű.
The Hungarian language is easy.
Grammar
The Definite Article
You probably deduced from the above sentences that the definite article in Hungarian is A. Remember to pronounce it like aw and not like the English indefinite article 'a'. A corresponds to the English 'the' and before a word beginning with a vowel, A becomes Az.
A város - the city
Az autó - the car
Equational Sentences
You also probably noticed that in the above sentences there was a construction like 'A város szép' and 'A nő magyar' in which there was no verb corresponding to the English 'is'. Hungarian does have a verb 'is' and it is often used, but for sentences like these, called equational sentences, it can be omitted. This rule however, only applies to 3rd person subjects.
Personal Pronouns and the Irregular Verb 'Lenni'
The personal pronouns in Hungarian are as follows, along with their corresponding forms of the verb 'lenni', 'to be':
én vagyok I am mi vagyunk we are
te vagy you are ti vagytok you (plural) are
ő van he, she, it is ők vannak they are
Note: There is also a personal pronoun 'maga' and its plural form 'maguk' which are the formal, or polite form of 'you'. It uses the 3rd person verb forms however.
Te angol vagy?
Are you English (For example, one teenager to another)
Maga magyar? (remember, we can omit 'van')
Are you Hungarian? (Say, one adult stranger to another)
Like German, French, and other European languages, the forms te and ti> are used only when speaking with close friends, family, children, or among young people.
Omission of Personal Pronoun
When using verbs, the ending signifies the person and number, so the use of the personal pronouns is optional and they are used mainly for emphasis. Note the following sentences:
Amerikai vagyok. (also note the preferred word order here)
Angol vagy?
Itt vagyunk. (We are here)
Exercises
Translate the following sentences into English:
1. Magyar vagyok.
2. Itt vagytok.
3. A város nagyon szép.
4. Az angol nyelv könnyű.
5. Itt a férfi.
Translate the following into Hungarian:
6. I am American.
7. The city is here.
8. The Hungarian language is easy.
9. The woman is very beautiful.
10. Yes, we are here.
For learning
Hungarian | Category
Uncategorized | Level
Unspecified |
Second language
English | Created
Jun 05, 2008 13:42 | Views
931 |
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