HUNGAROLINGUA BASIC LEVEL 1 Gabriella Marschalkó
2 Debrecen 2010
HUNGAROLINGUA BASIC HUNGARIAN TEXTBOOK FOR BEGINNERS by Gabriella Marschalkó Proofreading by Dr. Pál Csontos and Philip M. Inman Layout by Judit T. Nagy DEBRECENI NYÁRI EGYETEM 2010 3
4
I would like to thank people for their helpful comments on the manuscript and suggestions for improvements. My greatest thanks are offered to Dr. Pál Csontos, Philip M. Inman, Edit Hlavacska, Irén Kónya, Éva Kovács, Dr. Gyula Sankó and András Veréb. 5
TARTALOMJEGYZÉK (Contents) INTRODUCTION 6 VOWEL HARMONY 7 A MAGYAR ABC THE HUNGARIAN ALPHABET 8 A FEW RULES OF PHONETICS 8 1. KI VAGY? (Who are you?), MILYEN NYELVEN BESZÉLSZ? (What language do you speak?) 10 NYELVTAN (Grammar Personal pronouns Conjugation of the verb lenni Word formation with ul, ül ) ) 11 2. KÖSZÖNÉSEK (Greetings) 12 3. SZÁMOK (Numbers) 14 4. MAGYAR PÉNZ (Hungarian money) 16 NYELVTAN (Grammar How many? Ordinal numbers) 17 5. HOGY VAGY? (How are you?), MI A BAJ? (What s the matter?) 18 NYELVTAN (Grammar Adverbs of time) 19 6. MIT CSINÁLSZ? (What are you doing?) 20 NYELVTAN (Grammar Present tense verbal endings Adverbs of time on, en, ön, n ) 21 7. HOVÁ MÉSZ MA ESTE? (Where are you going tonight?) 22 NYELVTAN (Grammar lenni in past and future Adverbs of place ba, be ) 23 8. MIT KÉRSZ? (What would you like?) 24 NYELVTAN (Grammar Informal you ön/maga Object of the sentence) 25 9. KÉRSZ EGY KÁVÉT? (Would you like a coffee?) 26 NYELVTAN (Grammar Word formation with os, as, es, ös, s Plural marker) 27 10. TUD/AKAR/SZERET/SZERETNE GITÁROZNI (Can/want to/like to/would like to play the guitar) 28 NYELVTAN (Grammar Infinitive Word formation with zni ) 29 11. MILYEN IDŐ VAN MA? (What s the weather like today?) 30 NYELVTAN (Grammar ik group verbs Irregular verbs in the present tense) 31 12. POSTÁN (At the post office) 32 NYELVTAN (Grammar ez, az Words of foreign origin) 33 13. MIT ESZÜNK MA ESTE? (What are we going to eat tonight?) 34 NYELVTAN (Grammar Double negation The negative of van, vannak ) 35 14. TETSZIK A RUHÁD (I like your dress) 36 NYELVTAN (Grammar Possessive Nekem tetszik ) 37 15. AZ EMBERI TEST (The human body) 38 NYELVTAN (Grammar Nekem van ) 39 16. MILYEN SZEME VAN? (What sort of eyes has she got?) 40 NYELVTAN (Grammar Absence of van, vannak Comparison) 41 GYAKORLATOK (Exercises) 42 VOWEL HARMONY 42 1. KI VAGY? 43 2. KÖSZÖNÉSEK 45 3. SZÁMOK 46 4. MAGYAR PÉNZ 48 5. HOGY VAGY? 49 6
6. MIT CSINÁLSZ? 50 7. HOVÁ MÉSZ MA ESTE? 52 8. MIT KÉRSZ? 54 9. KÉRSZ EGY KÁVÉT? 56 10. TUD/AKAR/SZERET/SZERETNE GITÁROZNI 58 11. MILYEN IDŐ VAN MA? 60 12. POSTÁN 61 13. MIT ESZÜNK MA ESTE? 63 14. TETSZIK A RUHÁD 65 15. AZ EMBERI TEST 66 16. MILYEN SZEME VAN? 67 BASICS OF HUNGARIAN GRAMMAR 68 SZAVAK 73 WORDS 87 APPENDIX 101 7
INTRODUCTION HUNGARIAN VOWELS 1. Back (position) vowels a á o ó u ú 2. Front (position) vowels e é i í ö ő ü ű táska ablak bicikli tévé autó hal esernyő fésű toll kártya dzsem üveg ház olló tej szekrény fagylalt pohár csirke gyűrű szandál rózsa meggy könyv Words with mixed vowels tányér kávé 8
taxi ceruza VOWEL HARMONY In Hungarian most endings harmonize with the word they are attached to. Endings generally have two or three alternative forms differing only in the vowel. The choice of ending is determined by the vowels in the word. The endings ban and ben, for example, stand for the English preposition in. Words that contain only back vowels will take the back alternative of the ending: London ban (in London). Words that contain only front vowels will take the front alternative of the ending: Debrecen ben ( in Debrecen). Words that contain both back and front vowels will take the back alternative of the ending: Madrid ban ( in Madrid). 1. Hungarian does not use prepositions. Instead, there are endings, which are attached to the word they qualify. The umbrella is in the wardrobe. Az esernyő a szekrény ben van. 2. The definite article in Hungarian is a, but if the following word begins with a vowel, az is used: a szekrény az esernyő 3. Write sentences about where things are. táska szekrény A táska a szekrény ben van. (The bag is in the wardrobe.) tej pohár esernyő autó bicikli ház váza ablak dzsem üveg (The word üveg can stand for jar as well.) 4. Practise saying with your partner. A: Hol van a táska? (Where is the bag?) B: A táska a szekrényben van. (The bag is in the wardrobe.) A: Hol van a tej? B:. A: Hol van az esernyő? B:. A: Hol van a bicikli? B:. A: Hol van a váza? 9
B:. A: Hol van a dzsem? B:. A MAGYAR ABC (The Hungarian Alphabet) a a bl a k similar to English h o t á h á z similar to English ah a b a b lak similar to English b ad c bi c ikli similar to English ca ts cs cs irke similar to English ch eese d hí d similar to English d og dz e dz similar to English ki ds dzs dzs em similar to English j oke e t e j similar to English b e t é t é v é similar to English b a y f f ésű similar to English f eel g üve g similar to English g o gy gy űrű similar to English d uke h h al similar to English h at i cs i rke similar to English h i t í v í z similar to English b ee j te j similar to English y ellow k tás k a similar to English s k ip l ha l similar to English fee l ly fo ly ó similar to English y ellow m m eggy similar to English m eet n pé n z similar to English n o ny kö ny v similar to English n ew o o lló similar to English t o p ó r ó zsa similar to English t a ll ö k ö nyv similar to French p eu ő eserny ő similar to English f u r p p énz similar to English p ut q I Q similar to English coo l, mainly in words of foreign origin r gyű r ű similar to English r ed, always trilled s e s ernyő similar to English sh e sz sz ekrény similar to English s ee t ú t similar to English t ea ty kár ty a similar to English t ube u a u tó similar to English p u t ú ú t similar to English b oo t ü ü veg similar to German f ü nf ű t ű z similar to German Ü bung v v íz similar to English v ivid w W C the same as English v ivid, mainly in words of foreign origin x ta x i mainly in words of foreign origin y Y ork mainly in words of foreign origin z ví z similar to English la z y zs ró zs a similar to English plea s ure A FEW RULES OF PHONETICS 1. Vowels a. Pronunciation A vowel can be either short or long. In the case of i, o, u, ö, ü the long vowel ( í, ó, ú, ő, ű ) is pronounced twice as long as the short vowel with no change in quality. In the case 10
11 of a and e the long vowel ( á and é ) differs not only in length but in quality. Look at the Hungarian alphabet above.
b. Spelling If the vowel is short, there is no accent ( a, e, i, o, u ) or in the case of ö and ü there are two dots above the vowel. If the vowel is long, an acute accent is placed above it ( á, é, í, ó, ú ), or a double acute accent in the case of ő and ű. 2. Every consonant can be either short or long. Long consonants should be pronounced about twice as long as short ones. Length is marked by doubling in writing. In long two letter consonants we double only the first letter. hal (fish) short l olló (scissors) long l szép (beautiful) short sz vissza (back) long sz There are two letter consonants, for which we write two letters, but we pronounce only one sound. szandál (sandal) sz stands for one sound Ázsia (Asia) zs stands for one sound 3. Vowel lengthening. If the last letter of a word is either a or e, it will become long when an ending is attached to the word. táska (bag) táskában (in the bag) pince (cellar) pincében (in the cellar) 4. Word stress in Hungarian does not change; it is always on the first syllable of a word. olló (scissors) the first o is stressed but short, the second ó is long but not stressed. 5. Try to read out the signs you may come across in Hungary. tolni = push kijárat = exit húzni = pull vészkijárat = emergency exit nyitva = open indulás = departure zárva = closed nyitva tartás = opening hours bejárat = entrance érkezés = arrival nők = ladies férfiak = men kiadó = (office) to let (room) to let eladó = (office) for sale (house) for sale HASZNOS KIFEJEZÉSEK (Useful expresssions) Bocsánat! Nem értem. I m sorry I don t understand. Nem beszélek magyarul. I don t speak Hungarian. Tessék! Here you are. Köszönöm. Thank you. Szívesen. You are welcome. 12
1. KI VAGY? (Who are you?) A: B: A: B: A: B: A: B: A: Szervusz! Szia! Mi a neved? Renee vagyok. És te ki vagy? Én Kati vagyok. Én amerikai vagyok. És te? Én magyar vagyok. Renee, te beszélsz németül? Nem. Csak angolul és spanyolul beszélek és egy kicsit magyarul. És te? Én is beszélek angolul, természetesen magyarul és egy kicsit németül. (Hello.) (Hello.) (What is your name?) (I m Renee. And who are you?) (I m Kate.) (I m from America. And you?) (I m from Hungary. Do you speak German, Renee?) (No, I don t. I speak only English and Spanish and a little Hungarian. And you?) (I also speak English, Hungarian, of course, and a little German.) SZAVAK (Words) Szia! = Hello. magyar = Hungarian angolul = in English Szervusz! = Hello. német = German spanyol = Spanish mi? = what? németül = in German spanyolul = in Spanish név = name beszélsz = you speak egy kicsit = a little neved = your name beszél/beszélni = speak is = also és = and nem = no, not természetesen = of course ki? = who? csak = only magyarul = in Hungarian amerikai = American angol = English én = I te = you MILYEN NYELVEN BESZÉLSZ? (What language do you speak?) A: Milyen nyelven beszélsz? (What language do you speak?) B: Jól beszélek angolul és franciául. És egy (I speak English and French well. And a kicsit németül. little German.) SZAVAK (Words) milyen? = what sort of? nyelv = language jól = well EGYÉB NEMZETISÉGEK (Other nationalities ) arab = Arabic koreai = Korean olasz = Italian iráni = Iranian lengyel = Polish osztrák = Austrian japán = Japanese norvég = Norwegian svéd = Swedish 13
14
NYELVTAN (Grammar) 1. Hungarian personal pronouns. én = I mi = we te = you ti = you ő = s/he ők = they 2. The present tense forms of the verb van (is). /én/ vagyok = I am /mi/ vagyunk = we are /te/ vagy = you are /ti/ vagytok = you are /ő/ van = he/she/it is /ők/ vannak = they are 3. In Hungarian we tend to omit the personal pronouns from sentences if they are not specifically emphasized, since the verbal ending clearly indicates the person: /Én/ Latifah vagy ok. = I am Latifah. 4. Adjectives of nationality are not capitalised. angol = English 5. When describing the language in which people speak, for example, in English, Hungarian uses the ending ul, ül. Remember the rule of vowel harmony. back and mixed vowel words front vowel words magyar ul (in Hungarian) angol ul (in English) spanyol ul (in Spanish) olasz ul (in Italian) franciá ul (in French) japán ul (in Japanese) norvég ul (in Norwegian) svéd ül (in Swedish) német ül (in German) lengyel ül (in Polish) HASZNOS KIFEJEZÉSEK Még egyszer, légy szíves! (Egy) kicsit lassabban, légy szíves! Nem tudom. (Egy) pillanat. Hogy mondják magyarul table? Bocsánat a késésért. Semmi baj. Kimehetek a mosdóba? (Useful expressions) Once more, please. A bit slower, please. I don t know. Just a minute. What do they say for table in Hungarian? Sorry for being late. No problem. May I go to the bathroom? 15