Category: Hungarian
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[Hungarian] Translative Case: -vá/-vé
The translative case is less common than some of the other ones, but it’s still used semi-regularly (just in more specific situations). The purpose of this case is to show that something/someone is becoming/turning into something/someone else. The translative works like -val/-vel in that if the word ends in a…
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[Hungarian] Like This/Like That: így / úgy
így and úgy work similar to ilyen/olyan, in that they are used to describe or emphasize something. However, the difference is that ilyen/olyan are used with nouns. így / úgy are adverbs that pair with hogy(an) (how/in what manner?) and are used with verbs. Depending on the sentence structure, you…
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[Hungarian] How Much: Mennyi(re) / Annyi(ra) / Ennyi(re)
Similar to milyen/olyan/ilyen, these three words are used to describe things – but in this case, it’s more about expressing quantity (i.e. how much/many of something). mennyi: how much One of the most common ways you might see mennyi used is in the phrase “mennyibe kerül?” (how much does it…
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[Hungarian] Like/Kind of: Milyen / Olyan / Ilyen
This post will go over one of the common ways to describe things or people in Hungarian. milyen = how, what kind of, like what? For people, milyen is used to ask what someone is like, what kind of person they are – i.e. their personality, how they behave, or…
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[Hungarian] Without/Free of: nélkül vs mentes
This was requested, so Alex and I have done our best to provide a clear explanation! It’s difficult to explain the exact difference, but we hope that providing the example sentences make it easier to understand. If anyone has any particular thing they want to learn that hasn’t already been…
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[Hungarian] Interrogative and Relative Pronouns: Directions
This is the 2nd part of a 3-part explanation of interrogative and relative pronouns. This part specifically covers directional pronouns. Interrogative pronouns are basically question words, like ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, etc. Relative pronouns are used to refer back to the question word or other subject (person, thing, etc – whatever…
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[Hungarian] Causative Suffix: -(t)at/-(t)et
The causative “case”1 in Hungarian indicates that someone (or something) is being made to do something. It doesn’t necessarily mean by force, but can also refer to having someone do something as a favor, or having somebody follow instructions. If you’re familiar with Japanese 〜させる, -(t)at/-(t)et works about the same.…
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[Hungarian] Cases Overview: They’re Not as Scary as They Look!
Note that I’ve also made individual, more detailed posts on most of the cases mentioned here. This post is mainly just an overview to introduce the concept of cases and how they work in Hungarian. This is a rewrite of an old post that was made toward the beginning of…
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[Hungarian] Have to/Must/Need: Kell / Muszáj / Szükség
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, mustPast: kellettFuture/Conditional: kellene (can be shortened to “kéne”, which is more…
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[Hungarian] -(a)lak/-(e)lek: ‘én + téged’ Conjugation
There is a special conjugation in Hungarian when 1) you are the speaker, and 2) the direct object is ‘you’. This is only for informal te/ti. Formal Ön/Önök/maga/maguk will use the regular conjugation (you can see a chart about definite/indefinite pronouns here). Note that ‘you’ must be the direct object…
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