[#DuolingoForumGems originally posted on 2018-08-08 on the Duolingo Hungarian for English speakers forum by pizspozseng ] 

Family members in Hungarian - more than what Duo teaches

Duolingo teaches just a few of the information below in the family section. Rokon is relative or family member, rokonság refers to all your relatives. Vérrokon is a relative who you have common genes with, this means your spouse's relatives aren't vérrokons.

The neutral words are apa and anya for parents. Most people also call their parents like this when talking to them. Some people address them as Apu and Anyu, others (especially the elderly) may use the bit formal Édesanyám, Édesapám. Anyuci and Apuci are sometimes considered overly sweetish. In Northern Hungary, I have heard about someone calling her father Api.

When talking to other people about each other's parents, we usually provide words anyuka, apuka with the correct personal suffix: anyukám, anyukád. However, anyuka/apuka in itself is a not-so-polite way of addressing a parent of a child who you know. The word for parents is szülők, also used in singular szülő.

Stepparents are refered to as mostohaszülők (mostohaanya, mostohaapa, also mostohatestvér), but these words (due to use in literature) have some negative meaning, they may even suggest that person being evil. A more proper way of saying this is nevelőszülők (literally raising parents), but adopted children most often do not talk about their parents in a different way as any other person.

Siblings. The word testvér (literally body blood) is generally used for them, used much more frequently than sibling in English. Tesó is an informal, somewhat lazy slang-like nickname for testvér. Fivér means brother generally (hardly ever used, almost always báty and öcs are used instead), although there's no word that fits both older and younger sisters.

Older brother: báty (bátyám, bátyád, bátyja). Younger brother: öcs (öcsém, öcséd, öccse). Older sister: nővér (nővérem, nővéred, nővére). Younger sister: húg (húgom, húgod, húga). Originally, nén/néne was older sister (and nővér was sister generally), it remained in compound nouns like nagynéni (aunt). Sometimes these words were used to address anybody in a personal way (except húg). This means that bátyám (or bátya) was said to older men than the speaker, öcsém to younger men or child boys. Children may call any adult first name+néni (derived from néne) if female and first name+bácsi (derived from báty) if male. Adults only use these formulas to older people in polite situations. Younger men and women especially don't like it when they're called like this. Öcsi, derived from öcs is a common nickname regardless of the person's first name. Nővér also means nurse or nun, while fivér can mean monk.

Twins=ikrek, twin=ikertestvér. Identical twins are called 'egypetéjű ikrek' (literally one-celled twins), non-identicals are 'kétpetéjű ikrek'. Three or four children of the same pregnancy are hármasikrek, négyesikrek etc. Conjoined twins are 'kettős torzok' in medical language, although they are 'sziámi ikrek' in colloquial language.

Grandparents - as Duo teaches it - are nagyszülők. On the one hand, the word nagyanya is very rare, nagymama (nagymamám, nagymamád, nagymamája) is used instead. On the other hand, for grandfathers, nagyapa and nagypapa are both commonly used. People may address their grandparents like Nagymama/Nagypapa, Mama/Papa, Nagyi (grandmother). Great-grandparents are dédszülők: dédanya, dédapa. Great-grandmothers may be addressed Dédi by their great-grandchildren. The generations in order are as follows: nagy, déd, ük, szép, ős. This means ükapám=my great-great-grandfather.

These prefixes can also put before unoka (grandchild): dédunoka, ükunoka, szépunoka, ősunoka. Someone might say lányunoka/fiúunoka, but there's usually no gender distinction when talking about your grandchild.

Your parents' siblings (aunt, uncle) are nagynéne/nagynéni and nagybácsi/nagybátya. Their children (your cousins) are unokatestvér. This latter word is generally free of gender distinction, because unokahúg/unokaöcs means niece/nephew. Unokabácsi/másodnagybácsi/másodnagynéni/unokanéni is one of your parent's cousin, their child is your másodunokatestvér (second cousin). Nagy-nagynéni and nagy-nagybácsi are seldom ways of referring to your great aunt/uncle.

Spouses are házastárs, feleség, férj. In some villages nej is a synonym for wife, I personally don't like that word. Your spouse's parents are após and anyós (ipa and napa in rural areas), although the word anyós suggests some negative meaning due to its appearance in popular culture and jokes. Some people are using formal you to in-laws, some don't. They're often addressed with the first name+néni, bácsi formula. Brother- and sister-in-law are sógor and sógornő, you may hear ángy in some rural areas for sógornő. Son- and daughter-in-law are vej (sometimes vő) and meny. The words for bride and groom (menyasszony, vőlegény) are derived from them. Godfather and godmother are keresztapa/keresztanya, your children's godfather is your 'koma', while your children's godmother is your 'komámasszony'. Don't even think of using this latter one, because even many Hungarian don't know the meaning of it!

Some words are only used in some areas, or just in the countryside. One of these words is the prefix jobb for either the 2nd (grandparents) or the 7th generation. Nász and nászasszony are your child's spouse's parents, e.g. someone's two grandfathers are the nász of each other.

Mozaikcsalád is a word describing a family where most people are at their second-third marriage, and many of the children are not even related. Your féltestvér (always without gender, e.g. we don't say félhúg) is somebody who you have one common parent with.