Vagyok, vagy, van

An adjective describes a person or thing: éhes means hungry. Hungarian has no grammatical gender: the same adjective works for any person. Identity and descriptions omit van/vannak in the third person, but locations keep them: Ő zenész. Ő itt van.

Identity and polite address

Hungarian has no grammatical gender. A pronoun stands for a person: én, te, ő, mi, ti, ők. Ő means he or she. Polite singular ön uses the third-person verb; polite plural önök uses third-person plural. Familiar te is for Lili and friends.

The present tense describes now or a habit. Be forms are vagyok, vagy, van, vagyunk, vagytok, vannak. Third-person present identity or adjective statements normally omit be: Ő zenész, Cirmi éhes. Location keeps it: Ő itt van. A subject is who the verb describes.

• Én vagyok az új szomszéd.I am the new neighbour.

• Te vagy Lili.You are Lili.

• Ő itt van.He/she is here.

• Mi itt vagyunk.We are here.

• Ti itt vagytok.You are here, familiar plural.

• Ők itt vannak.They are here.

Reading Hungarian

Hungarian stress falls on the first syllable. Read s as sh in ship, sz as s in sun, c as ts, and cs as ch in chair. Accents belong to the spelling: ö/ő and ü/ű differ in length; a/á and e/é also differ in vowel quality. Keep the accents when writing.

Read ny as a single palatal n, like Spanish ñ. Gy and ty are single palatal d and t sounds, made with the tongue toward the hard palate; English approximations are only a starting aid. Zs sounds like the s in measure. Double consonants are held longer: ssz is a long sz, ggy a long gy. Listen to the whole word and keep the native spelling.

Kulcsom, kulcsod, kulcsa

The complete singular-key possession set is kulcsom, kulcsod, kulcsa, kulcsunk, kulcsotok, kulcsuk. Polite ön kulcsa and önök kulcsa use third-person possession. Van egy kulcsotok means you familiar plural have a key; van egy kulcsuk means they have a key.

Possession and saying no

An owned noun has a possessive suffix. With kulcs: kulcsom, kulcsod, kulcsa, kulcsunk, kulcsotok, kulcsuk. Polite ön uses kulcsa. Van egy kulcsom means I have a key; Hungarian uses be/existence with the possessed noun.

Negation is normally nem: nem vagyok éhes. Negative existence is nincs singular and nincsenek plural, rather than a literal not plus be. Nincs kulcsom is I have no key. Use nem with third-person identity: Ő nem zenész.

• Van egy kulcsom.I have a key.

• Van egy kulcsod.You have a key.

• Van egy kulcsa.He/she has a key.

• Van egy kulcsunk.We have a key.

• Nincs kulcsom.I have no key.

• Én nem vagyok éhes.I am not hungry.

A, az, egy; kávét kérek

Articles and request chunks

An article introduces a noun. Definite a comes before a consonant sound, az before a vowel: a tea, az asztal. Indefinite egy means a or one. A noun names a person or thing. The accusative is an object form and commonly ends in -t: kávé/kávét, tea/teát.

Use Kávét kérek to order a coffee. A kávét kérem asks for a specified coffee. Learn kérek/kérem through these requests before full indefinite/definite conjugations in module 2. Szeretnék aludni is a polite I would like to sleep chunk; its conditional form is not an ordinary present ending.

• A tea jó.The tea is good.

• Az asztal nagy.The table is big.

• Egy kávét kérek.I would like a coffee.

• Kávét kérek.I would like coffee.

• Teát kérek.I would like tea.

• A kávét kérem.I ask for the specified coffee.

Lakom, laksz, lakik

Living and sleeping

Dictionary verb entries may use a third-person form or infinitive. Learn lakik/lakni: lakom, laksz, lakik, lakunk, laktok, laknak. Verbs in -ik often have a first-person singular -m even without a definite object; it does not mean my in a verb.

Useful pairs are alszik/aludni and játszik/játszani. Sleep forms are alszom, alszol, alszik, alszunk, alszotok, alszanak. Nem alszom means I do not sleep. Trombitálok is I play the trumpet, a simple verb that does not require an object.

• Én itt lakom.I live here.

• Te itt laksz.You live here.

• Ő itt lakik.He/she lives here.

• Mi itt lakunk.We live here.

• Ti itt laktok.You live here, familiar plural.

• Ők itt laknak.They live here.

In the comic, zenélhetek means I may play music. Learn it as a whole permission phrase here; you will practise the permission ending later.

Enyém, tiéd, övé

The complete independent possessive set is enyém, tiéd, övé, miénk, tiétek, övék. Polite yours is öné/önöké. A postposition follows the noun: a ház fölött, above the house. Do not confuse a postposition with a case suffix attached to a noun.

Whose it is and where it is

The independent possessive forms are enyém, tiéd, övé, miénk, tiétek, övék: mine, yours familiar, his/hers, ours, yours familiar plural, theirs. For polite your use öné. Ez az enyém needs no third-person present be.

A case ending shows a noun’s role. Location inside uses -ban/-ben: házban means in a house, szekrényben means in a wardrobe. Learn these place expressions as whole examples for now. Fent/lent mean upstairs/downstairs; fölött means above and follows the noun. Hogy van? is a polite how are you greeting; keep van in this health expression.

• Ez az enyém.This is mine.

• Ez a tiéd.This is yours, familiar.

• Ez az övé.This is his/hers.

• Ez a miénk.This is ours.

• A kulcs a házban van.The key is in the house.

• A kulcs a szekrényben van.The key is in the wardrobe.