Hungarian Grammar

If you're trying to learn the most essential topics about Hungarian you will find some useful resources including a course about adjectives, adverbs, articles, gender (feminine, masculine...), negation, nouns, numbers, phrases, plural, prepositions, pronouns, questions, verbs, vocabulary, excercises... to help you with your Hungarian grammar Enjoy our courses!

Hungarian Lessons

Learning Hungarian can help you communicate with other people who speak Hungarian. The following courses will provide you with some help based on the lessons you choose. Here is a list of what we offer:

1-    Plural Lesson

While in English, the plural is formed by adding (s) to the singular. In Hungarian, to form the plural of nouns and adjectives we add (-k) to words ending in a vowel and (-ak) or (-ák) or (-ek) or (-ék)  or (-ik)  or (-ík)  or (-ok)  or (-ók)  or (-ök)  or (-ők)  or (-uk) or (-úk) or (-ük) or (-űk) to words ending in a consonant, mostly made a choice of these based on tradition. Here are some examples:

 

(Egy) barát (a friend) becomes: barátok (some friends)

(Egy) nő (one woman) becomes: nők (some women)

Ez az én piros autóm (this is my red car) becomes: Ezek az én piros autóim (these are my red cars) – Remark: in this case the plural word also reflects genitive case (possession)

 

2-    Adverbs Lesson

While in English adverbs are usually formed by adding (-ly) to adjectives. In Hungarian many adverbs are formed from adjectives, simply by adding the suffix -an or -en to the singular feminine form of adjectives. Examples:

 

Lassú (slow) becomes lassan (slowly)

Tökéletes (perfect) becomes tökéletesen (perfectly)

However that’s not always the case. Some words are adverbs by nature. For example:

Most (now), valóban (really), and hamarosan (soon) are all Hungarian adverbs.

 

3-    Adjectives Lesson

In English an adjective doesn’t change when the noun changes, and in Hungarian neither, not even to match numbers. For example:

a)    Masculine to feminine example:

Ez az én kis fiam (this is my little son) becomes: Ez az én kis lányom (this is my little daughter)

As you can see from the example above, the adjective comes before the noun (kis) and does not change.

b)    Singular to plural example:

Ez az én fehér macskám (this is my white cat) becomes: Ezek az én fehér macskáim (these are my white cats).

As you can see from the example above, the adjective comes before the noun (kis) and does not change.

 

4-    Numbers Lesson

In Hungarian numbers recursive and logical. We separate large numbers with a slash into three-digit sections to make it easier to read. 22 = huszonkettő. 45 can be formed by using 40 + 5 while connecting them: 45 = negyvenöt.

 

5-    Articles Lesson

Definite Article:

Unlike English, which has only one definite article “the", Hungarian has 2 definite articles:

a (if the next word starts with a consonant), a könyv (the book)

az (if the next word starts with a vowel) az érem (the coin)

 

 

Indefinite Article:

While we have (a / an / some) in English as indefinite articles, we also have egy in Hungarian.

In general, whenever (a, an) are used in English you, you need to use (egy) to say the equivalent in Hungarian.

egy könyv (a book), egy ház (a house), néhány könyv (some books), néhány ház (some houses)

 

Example: A könyveim egy barátom házában vannak (The books I have are in a house of a friend) – Remark: Usually we in Hungarian do not hardly put any indefinite articles in the text.

 

6-    Verbs Lessons

-       Present Tense

In Hungarian, verbs take the following endings to form the present tense:

(depending on the vowels of the verb, the first vowel of the endings can be any other vowels, this is also based on tradition)

én -ek/-em, te -el, ő -ik, mi -ünk, ti -tek, ők -nek. Example:

én eszek/em, te eszel, ő eszik, mi eszünk, ti esztek, ők esznek.

 

These endings can help you a lot, because with them you can conjugate most of verbs into the present tense, you only need the stem of the verb, for example the stem of (eszik: to eat) is (esz).

 

-       Past Tense

In Hungarian as well as in English the simple past tense (imperfect) is used to describe past events. The endings for the past tense verbs are:

én -tam, te -tál, ő -tt, mi -ttunk, ti -ttatok, ők -ttak. Example :

én játszottam, te játszottál, ő játszott, mi játszottunk, ti játszottatok, ők játszottak.

 

So just take any regular verb stem and add it to the endings above, for example our previous verb spielen (to play), its stem is “játszo”, plus the endings above becomes én játszottam (I played). - Remark: Be careful with stems, most Hungarian stems are irregular and add a vowel.

 

-       Future Tense

To form the future in Hungarian it’s very easy, just use the present tense verb plus add the word “majd” (this is a very simple way of saying future tense, although Hungarians also use conjugation in future tense and often use present tense simply in the meaning of events in the near future. Example:

én játszok/m majd, te játszol majd...

 

This means that you don’t have to worry about future tense that much.

 

7-    Asking a Question Lesson

In Hungarian only intonation is enough to create a question of any sentence. When you pronounce the sentence or a simple word (verb), you just raise the tone at the last vowel.

 

8-    Negation Lesson

 

In Hungarian, negation can be made simply by placing "No" before the main verb. Not double negative exists. "Nem" is the most common negative.

Nem tudom megcsinálni (I can't do this). 

Nincs semmi dolguk (they don't have anything to do – “Nincs” means nothing/anything). 

Nem szeretem (I don't like it)

 

 

9-    Pronouns Lesson

In English personal pronouns are (I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they), and (me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them), In Hungarian, the personal pronouns are:

Én… (I), te… (you), ő… (he), ő… (she), 

mi… (we), ti… (you plural), ők… (they)

Examples: én tanulok (I learn), te tanulsz (you learn), ő tanul (he learns), ő tanul (she learns), Ön tanul (you learn [polite]), mi tanulunk (we learn), ti tanultok (you learn [plural, friendly]), ők tanulnak (they learn).

 

Indirect Object Pronouns:

Indirect object pronouns are words that replace the indirect object, which is usually a person.

Engem (me), téged (you), őt (him, her), minket (us), titeket (you), őket (them), Önt/Önöket (you singular/plural formal) meaning objects and

Nekem (me), neked (you), neki (him, her), nekünk (us), nektek (you), nekik (them), Önnek/Önöknek (you singular/plural, formal) meaning “targets”:

Examples: Add nekem a könyvet (give me the book). Szeretlek téged (I love you).

 

Possessive Pronouns (singular/plural):

Enyém/enyéim (mine), tiéd/tieid (yours), övé / övéi (his, hers), miénk / mieink (ours), tiétek / tieitek (yours), övék / övéik (theirs), Öné/Önéi (yours, formal).

We hope the lessons above helped you learn Hungarian. To learn other topics please check our homepage here: Learn Hungarian. Don't forget to bookmark this page.