[#DuolingoForumGems originally posted on 2017-08-08 on the Duolingo Hungarian for English speakers forum by vvsey ]  https://duolingo.hobune.stream/comment/23906912

Once more on Hungarian Word Order?

This is another attempt at getting English-thinking minds around the apparent chaos that is the Hungarian word order. Here are my previous attempts:
On Emphasis and Word Order in Hungarian
Structure and word order of a Hungarian sentence

Please note, I am trying to keep it simple this time.

Let’s start with a simple sentence:

• Peter is reading a book at the library.

That is a normal English word order. Subject-Verb-DirectObject-Location(WhateverItIs).

So, how do we ask about specific elements of this sentence? We have specific question words, aimed at different elements. Who, what, where, etc. And there are elements that need more complicated phrases: what is he doing, etc.

So, for example, how do we ask about the direct object?

Very simple: we take our sentence above, and replace the direct object with the corresponding question word. And, of course, we replace the period with a question mark:

• Peter is reading a WHAT at the library?

Right?

Noooo, this is not right. We also have to change the word order:

• WHAT is Peter reading at the library?

Now, that’s better.

How about asking about the location?

• Peter is reading a book WHERE?

No, we need to change the word order:

• WHERE is Peter reading a book?

Yes, that's it.

But what did I just do?

I picked the part of the sentence that I am most interested in, and placed it at the front. Moreover, I placed a verb right after the question word. Or I placed the question word in front of a verb.
In other words, my question word, the word that I focus on, the word that gets the most emphasis in the sentence, is placed right in front of the verb, and these two are placed at the front of the sentence.
So, we have the topic of the question at the front of the sentence, in a very well emphasized position, right in front of the verb.

But.... But, hey! Isn’t that just exactly what the Hungarian word order is all about???

Well, not quite exactly, but yes, that is the basic idea. Only Hungarian takes it further. Much further. About a hundred steps further. Hungarian can use this concept anywhere, not only in questions. And not only at the front of a sentence. The verb can be anywhere in the sentence and have the same effect on the word in front of it. And there are many other factors, as well, which I do not want to go into here.

But the basic idea is the same.

And that is probably why I have found it very useful to pose questions to the sentences in this course when trying to explain the weird word order. Because a question will easily point out the focus in the sentence, both in Hungarian and in English. That is why I would say, for example:

“Peter a könyvtárban olvas egy könyvet.” is a good answer to the question:
"Where is Peter reading a book?"

And:
"Peter egy könyvet olvas a könyvtárban." is a good answer to the question:
"What is Peter reading in the library?"

See, the answer to the question word lies in the word that is placed in front of the verb in the Hungarian sentence. And the question word in the English question is also in front of a verb.

Of course, life is not that simple. I am just trying to point out some basic similarities between question sentences in English and the general idea of word order in Hungarian. If you think a little bit about how English question sentences are formed, and why, that may help you on the long way of fully understanding Hungarian word order.

Good luck!