[#DuolingoForumGems originally posted on 2021-05-24 on the Duolingo Hungarian for English speakers forum by peter.kristof.hu ] 

The Verb + Infinitive structure

Since this structure has not yet been discussed, I think it is worth talking about it, as it is an essential part of the Hungarian language. It's a phrase that uses infinitives and a verb to express the predicate of the sentence. I will try to outline the issue without going into details.

The structure cannot be used with all verbs; this may have semantic and pragmatic reasons. For example, the future tense can be expressed in this way ("fog"), but some auxiliary or modal verbs also belong here (tud, lehet, kell, szabad, akar), and some other verbs are also suitable for this purpose (szokott, szeretne, kíván, próbál).

Some examples:

János angolt fog tanulni. (János will study English.)
A gyerek fagylatot akar enni. (The child wants to eat ice cream.)
Moziba szeretne menni. (She would like to go to the cinema.)
Ő már jól tud beszélni kínaiul. (He can already speak Chinese well.)
Mari próbálja megoldani a problémát. (Mari is trying to solve the problem.)
János el akarja vinni Marit Kínába. (John wants to take Mari to China.)

Patterns

• Verb-infinitive

	Verb
	Tudok	menni.
Menni	tudok.

• Focus-verb-infinitive

	Verb
	tudok	most menni.
Most	tudok	menni.
Most menni	tudok.

• Preverb-verb-infinitive

	Verb
	tudok	elmenni.
Elmenni	tudok.
El-	tudok	menni.

• Verb modifier (bare noun)-verb-infinitive

	Verb
	Tudok	iskolába menni.
Iskolába menni	tudok.
Iskolába	tudok	menni.

As you probably know, the Hungarian (simplified) sentence structure is:

Topic(s) - Focus/Verb modifier - Verb - Others

The verb modifier can be a preverb or a bare noun. I have only marked the verb position, and the sentences above are not written in all possible word order and emphasis. The stressed word is in bold. In some cases, the focus is distinguished from the topic only by emphasis.

Note that there can be more than one infinitive in the structure, e.g.
"Mari úszni akar menni." (Mari wants to go swimming.) It should also be noted that the adverbial participle (-va/-ve, ván/-vén) can be used to create similar structures, e.g.
"A kocka el van vetve." (The die is cast.)

As shown, if the infinitive has a preverb, the preverb is separated and the verb is placed between the preverb and the infinitive in a certain word order. Similar rule for a bare noun:
El tudok menni.
Iskolába tudok menni.

The conjugation of infinitives

In Hungarian, infinitives can also be conjugated. E.g. in the 1st person singular: futni - futnom, csinálni - csinálnom, ülni - ülnöm, számolni - számolnom, etc.

In case of some (auxiliary) verbs that have impersonal meanings, such as kell, lehet, szabad, the conjugated infinitive indicates the person and number of the subject, and the subject is put into the dative case. (Because we don't say that "kellek menni, kellesz menni, etc.) Compare the following two sentences:

Menni kell. (Must go.)
(Nekem) mennem kell. / Nekem menni kell. (I must go.)

Let's look at the intransitive, transitive conjugation, and the conjugation of the infinitive for a regular verb.

• Intransitive conjugation

én írok egy levelet	mi írunk egy levelet
te írsz egy levelet	ti írtok egy levelet
ő ír egy levelet	ők írnak egy levelet

• Transitive conjugation

én írom a levelet	mi írjuk a levelet
te írod a levelet	ti írjátok a levelet
ő írja a levelet	ők írják a levelet

• Conjugation of the infinitive

nekem írnom kell egy/a levelet	nekünk írnunk kell egy/a levelet
neked írnod kell egy/a levelet	nektek írnotok kell egy/a levelet
neki írnia kell egy/a levelet	nekik írniuk kell egy/a levelet