Better Hungarian

Note: This is not a post on how to tell time in Hungarian. That will be covered in a separate entry.

Expressions of time vary in the way they are formed in Hungarian. Some use cases, others take postpositions, and some don’t take anything at all. Post-positions are something we don’t really have in English, so I will go over these first. It can seem very strange at first if you aren’t used to the structure, but it’s truly not too complicated.

Post-positions are like prepositions, except they are placed after a word instead of before. Hungarian uses postpositions for many things; this post will only cover relevant time expressions.

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Since

There are a couple different ways to express this in Hungarian.

1. óta

-Három hét óta választ várok¹. (I’ve been waiting for a response for three weeks)
(lit. ‘three weeks since reply I wait’)

-Négy hónap óta nem dohányzom. (I haven’t smoked for four months)
(lit. ‘four months since I don’t smoke’)

-Mióta laksz Magyarországon? (How long have you lived in Hungary?)
(lit. ‘since when you live in Hungary’)

¹ Note that in Hungarian, the present tense of the verb is used in these cases, whereas in English we would use past tense.

2. 3rd person singular possessive : -(j)a/-(j)e

(I will use the same sentences so that you can easily see the difference)

-Három hete választ várok.

-Négy hónapja nem dohányzom.

-Mennyi ideje laksz Magyarországon?

If using this structure, you do not need ‘óta‘.

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Ago

Again, there are two different ways to express this as well.

1. Ezelőtt (with -val/-vel)

-Négy nappal ezelőtt mentem¹ Budapestre. (I went to Budapest four days ago)
(lit. ‘with four days before I went to Budapest’)

-Egy cicát láttam néha perccel ezelőtt. (I saw a cat a few minutes ago)
(lit. ‘a cat I saw with some minutes before’)

-Hány hónappal ezelőtt beszéltél vele? (How many months ago did you speak with xem?)
(lit. ‘with how many months before you spoke with xem’)

¹ Note that past tense is used here, just as in English, since ‘ago’ can really only correspond with past tense events.

2. 3rd person singular possessive : -(j)a/-(j)e

With this structure, you do not need ‘ezelőtt‘. This is the same structure as “since“, so the verb tense will be the main thing to tell them apart (present for ‘since’, past for ‘ago’).

-Négy napja mentem Budapestre.

-Egy cicát láttam néha perce.

-Hány hónapja beszéltél vele?

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Verbs vs Nouns with Postpositions

Before getting into the other terms, there is an important thing to take note of. In English, we might say “I watch TV before I eat” (using the verb, ‘to eat’). In Hungarian, we do not use the verb but instead the noun form. If you’re familiar with French, they sometimes prefer nouns over verbs in these sort of cases too.

Wrong: TV-t nézek enni előtt.

Right: TV-t nézek az evés előtt.

‘Evés‘ is the noun form of ‘enni‘ (to eat). So loosely translated, it would be ‘I watch TV before the eat(ing)‘, which of course sounds strange in English.

Many nouns can be formed just by adding -ás/-és to the verb (ex: beszélget (to chat) – beszélgetés (conversation)), but others (like ‘evés’) are irregular or have stem changes. Wiktionary usually has the noun form listed in their verb conjugation charts, if you need to look it up.

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Other Postpositions of Time

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Now that you hopefully have a grasp on postpositions themselves, I will more briefly go over the other time expressions (this is not a comprehensive list).

1. After – után

Beszélhetünk a buli után. (We can talk after the party)

A vacsora után boltba megyek. (I’m going to the store after dinner)

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2. Before – előtt

Mit csinálsz a gyűlés előtt? (What are you doing before the meeting?)

TV-t nézek az alvás előtt. (I watch TV before going to sleep)

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3. During – közben

Rajzolok az óra közben. (I draw during class)

Elkezdtem elaludni a beszélgetés közben. (I started to fall asleep during the conversation)

Tilos beszélni a film közben. (No talking during the film)

Note: ‘alatt‘ can function as a synonym of ‘közben‘ in these cases.

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4. In/After – múlva

Két hónap múlva megyek Londonba. (I am going to London in two months)

Egy óra múlva vedd ki a csirkét a sütőből. (Take the chicken out of the oven in an hour)

Note about múlva: it is only used with time expressions (minutes, days, etc). You would not use it the same way that ‘után’ is used.

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5. From/Since – fogva/kezdve (with -tól/-től)

This is kind of like óta, but more ‘sophisticated’, and implies more of a continuous situation/event.

Nyártól fogva/kezdve nem beszél¹ velem. (Xe hasn’t been speaking to me since Summer)

Az esküvő napjától fogva/kezdve sokkal boldogabbnak tűnsz. (You’ve seemed a lot happier since your wedding day)

¹ Just like with ‘óta‘, the verb is in present tense in Hungarian.

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6. In/Within – belül (with –(o/e/ö)n)

Két napon belül találkozom az anyukámmal. (I will meet my mother (with)in two days)

A film öt percen belül kezdődik. (The film will begin (with)in five minutes)

You can also use ‘alatt‘ here instead, but it does not need the case suffix. (ex: ‘két nap alatt találkozom az anyukámmal’)

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7. About/Around – körül

Nyolc óra körül iskolába megyek. (I go to school around eight a.m.)

December körül az idő nagyon fagyos. (It is very chilly around December)

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As I said, this is not a comprehensive list, but hopefully I covered some of the more frequent/useful ones. I will be making other posts covering seasons/months/etc, since there is a lot of information.