Expressing necessity in Hungarian can be done in several ways, and I would like to say that they aren’t very hard. There is a little bit of conjugation involved, but the rules are pretty straightforward.
Kell – have to, must
Past: kellett
Future/Conditional: kellene (can be shortened to “kéne”, which is more casual and informal)
Note: there are more conjugations, but they just really aren’t used that much. If you’re interested in seeing all of them, you can look at the conjugation table on wiktionary.
Kell is paired with an infinitive, but it requires a slight conjugation. Assuming you’ve gone over vowel harmony, here are the endings the infinitive will take:
| Én | -nom/-nem/-nöm | Mi | -nunk/-nünk |
| Te | -nod/-ned/-nöd | Ti | -notok/-netek/-nötök |
| Ő/Ön | -nia/-nie | Ők/Önök | -niuk/-niük |
As you can see, it basically keeps the “n” from the end of the infinitive, and adds similar endings as the other verb conjugations. Note that sometimes, there will be a linking vowel between the infinitive stem and the ending, in order to smooth out the pronunciation.
Some conjugation examples
Megy (infinitive: menni) – note that this is one of the irregular verbs
| Én | (kell) mennem | Mi | (kell) mennünk |
| Te | (kell) menned | Ti | (kell) mennetek |
| Ő/Ön | (kell) mennie | Ők/Önök | (kell) menniük |
Gyakorol (infinitive: gyakorolni)
| Én | (kell) gyakorolnom | Mi | (kell) gyakorolnunk |
| Te | (kell) gyakorolnod | Ti | (kell) gyakorolnotok |
| Ő/Ön | (kell) gyakorolnia | Ők/Önök | (kell) gyakorolniuk |
Segít (infinitive: segíteni) – note the linking vowel ‘e’ in the infinitive here. It will be present in the conjugations.
| Én | (kell) segítenem | Mi | (kell) segítenünk |
| Te | (kell) segítened | Ti | (kell) segítenetek |
| Ő/Ön | (kell) segítenie | Ők/Önök | (kell) segíteniük |
Once you’ve learned the conjugation, the usage isn’t that complicated.
Examples
(Nekem)1 most mennem kell (I have to go now)
1For kell (and muszáj), the subject of the sentence (the thing that needs something) will be in the dative case. If this is a personal pronoun however, the subject is not necessary as the verb conjugation shows who it is referring to. You usually wouldn’t include the subject, unless it is a proper noun that wasn’t previously mentioned, or you want to put particular emphasis on who the subject is (who is in need).
Meg1 kell enned az almát (You have to eat the apple)
1Kell is a quasi-auxiliary verb, which requires the coverb to split. If the sentence is negative, however, the coverb will not split.
Nem kell megtanulnom magyarul, mert már mindenki beszél angolul (I don’t have to learn Hungarian, because everyone already speaks English)
Note: This is false. Not everyone will speak English as understandably as you would like, and I also just think it’s a nice courtesy to learn at least some of the language of the country you are visiting (and especially if you are moving there).
Azt hiszem, hogy bocsánatot kellene/kéne kérnem (I believe that I should apologize)
Tegnap mennem kellett az orvoshoz (I had to go to the doctor yesterday)
Gyakorolnom kell, de nem akarok (I have to practice, but I don’t want to)
Miért kell vizet innom? (Why do I have to drink water?)
Muszáj – must
Past: muszáj volt
Future: muszáj lesz
Conditional: muszáj lenne/volna
Muszáj is not a verb, and Alex isn’t really sure what it classifies as, but the important thing is that the word muszáj itself will not be conjugated.
Like kell, muszáj is also paired with the infinitive, and the infinitive will take the same conjugations, so you can refer back to that chart for this one as well.
Muszáj can generally be used interchangeably with kell, but there are some differences between the two:
–muszáj is stronger than kell, and indicates or emphasizes an urgency
–muszáj is more informal than kell (you would not really see it in official documents)
-coverbs will typically not split with muszáj (you CAN do it, but it will sound a bit weird). Kell is a quasi-auxiliary verb that requires the coverb to split (unless negative), but muszáj is not.
In general, most of the time you can just use kell, unless you specifically want to express urgency or seriousness1. In other tenses, kell tends to be used more than muszáj.
1As Alex puts it: “muszáj is for something like – if your friend was really depressed and not coming out of their house, and the situation was getting really bad, so you’d tell them something like “muszáj kijönnöd a házból” (you MUST get out of the house)“. Muszáj can suggest that there may be consequences if the thing is not done.
The sentence structure is also a bit different with muszáj. With kell, the conjugated infinitive typically comes first (in regular word order). With muszáj, it is not the case. The conjugated infinitive will generally come after muszáj.
Here are some of the example sentences from kell, so you can see the difference:
Most muszáj mennem (I must go now)
Muszáj megenned az almát (You must eat the apple)
Nem muszáj megtanulnom magyarul, mert már mindenki beszél angolul (I don’t have to/am not obligated to learn Hungarian, because everyone already speaks English)
There is also a difference between the negative in both cases.
nem muszáj – In English, if we see the word “mustn’t”, we know it means the thing must not be done (absolutely not, it is forbidden, illegal, etc). However, in Hungarian, this expression is much more casual. If, for example, someone offers you something, and you say “nem muszáj”, that basically means “you can if you want, but I’m not expecting/obligating you to” or “it would be nice if you did this, but it is not required”
nem kell, however, expresses that 1) you would rather something NOT be done, 2) the thing does not need to be done 3) it is pointless to do the thing. If someone offers you something and you say “nem kell”, you are telling that person you for sure do NOT want what they are offering.
Szükség (van) – need
Past: szükség volt
Future: szükség lesz
Conditional: szükség lenne/volna
This one is also not a verb, but a noun that means “need”. It is used with -ra/-re to express a need for something (typically another noun). The subject (the one who “needs” the thing) will be put in dative case, and “szükség” will take the possessive suffix that matches with said subject.
Examples
(Nekem)1 szükségem van egy macskára (I need a cat)
literally: “to/for me need there is for a cat”, or more coherently “to/for me there is (a) need for a cat”
1Since “szükség” takes a possessive suffix that tells you who the subject is, the actual subject (nekem, neked, etc) is not necessary (unless it is a proper noun that wasn’t already mentioned previously). You could just say “szükségem van egy macskára”.
Szükséged van egy kocsira (You need a car)
Szükségük1 van egy új főnökre (They need a new boss)
1You don’t make szükség plural, even if the subject is plural
Szüksége van vízre? (Do you (pol.) need some water?)
Az anyukámnak szüksége van egy nap szabadságra (My mother needs a day off (lit. “free day”))
Az országunknak szüksége van egy jó vezetőre (Our country needs a good leader)
Better Hungarian 
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