Infinitive verbs

[This is taken from the Duolingo Hungarian Tips & Notes ]

The knights who say "Ni!" - The infinitive

Here, you will meet the infinitive form of a verb. The infinitive form always ends with -ni. For regular verbs, just take the singular third person form and attach a -ni.

	English	Hungarian
S/3	he/she studies	tanul
infinitive	to study	tanulni
S/3	he/she runs	fut
infinitive	to run	futni
S/3	he/she dances	táncol
infinitive	to dance	táncolni

For verbs ending in -ik, remove the -ik and add the -ni.

	English	Hungarian
S/3	he/she plays tennis	teniszezik
infinitive	to play tennis	teniszezni
S/3	he/she plays football	focizik
infinitive	to play football	focizni

Sometimes you might find two consonants at the end of a verb, it can also happen when you “remove” the “-ik” ending. In this case, you will have to add an extra vowel to glue it to the “-ni”. For example:

	English	Hungarian
S/3	he/she says	mond
infinitive	to say	mondani
S/3	he/she takes a bath	fürdik
infinitive	to take a bath	fürdeni

Finally, of course, there are some irregular verbs. From this list you will meet in this skill “enni, inni, menni, venni, lenni”. But we wanted to show you all the irregular ones, as they are those verbs which usually behave differently.

	English	Hungarian
S/3	he/she goes	megy
infinitive	to go	menni
S/3	he/she eats	eszik
inf	to eat	enni
S/3	he/she drinks	iszik
inf	to drink	inni
S/3	he/she buys	vesz
inf	to buy	venni
S/3	he/she is	van
inf	to be	lenni
S/3	he/she believes	hisz
inf	to believe	hinni
S/3	he/she puts	tesz
inf	to put	tenni
S/3	he/she brings	visz
inf	to bring	vinni

Combining with other verbs

The infinitive form is usually used when there is another verb in the sentence, which can express:

I. a preference (to love, to hate, to like doing / to do something):

• Szeretek táncolni. - I like to dance. /I like dancing.

• Utálok táncolni. - I hate dancing.

II. a capacity or capability to do something:

• Tudok táncolni. - I can dance. / I know how to dance

• Nem tudok táncolni. - I can’t dance. / I don't know how to dance.

Depending on the context, "tud" can be translated as "can" or "know".

III. a desire, a wish (I would like to do something):

• Szeretnék táncolni. - I would like to dance.

• Nem szeretnék táncolni. - I wouldn’t like to dance.

IV. a possibility (It is allowed / It is possible):

• Lehet táncolni. - It is allowed to dance.

• Nem lehet táncolni. - It is not possible to dance. / It is not allowed to dance.

V. expresses a habit: It is like adding “usually” to the sentence. (Or you can imagine "I used to dance", but in the present tense.)

• Szoktam táncolni. - I usually dance. / I dance. 

• Nem szoktam táncolni. - I don’t dance usually. / I don’t usually dance. / I don't dance.

	szokott
(én)	szoktam
(te)	szoktál
(ő/Ön)	szokott
(mi)	szoktunk
(ti)	szoktatok
(ők/Önök)	szoktak

Can it have an object?

Yes, you can say ‘I like eating cheese.’ or ‘I hate eating cheese.’ depending on your taste :). You have to change the word order, and put the object (with the accusative ending ‘-t’) before the infinitive.

Szeretek sajtot enni. = I like eating cheese.

Utálok sajtot enni. = I hate eating cheese.

other examples:

Szeretnék sört inni. = I would like to drink beer.

Szeretnék almát enni. = I would like to eat an apple.

Nem szeretnék tévét nézni. = I would not like to watch tv.

Itt lehet kenyeret venni. = It is possible to buy bread here.

In this case you expressed something in general. If you would like to express your desire to do something with a specific thing, it is also possible. For example, you can say “I would like to eat an apple.” or “I would like to drink a coffee.” As the article “a/an” appeared in the English sentence, it will also appear in the Hungarian, and then we will have the same word order as in English, and the object will come after the infinitive.

Szeretnék enni egy almát. = I would like to eat an apple.

Szeretnék inni egy kávét. = I would like to drink a coffee.

Szeretnék venni egy házat. = I would like to buy a house.

"would like to"

It looks similar, so be careful with "like" and "would like to". (The "would like to" version is the conditional of the verb "szeret".)

	like	would like to
(én)	szeretek	szeretnék
(te)	szeretsz	szeretnél
(ő/Ön)	szeret	szeretne
(mi)	szeretünk	szeretnénk
(ti)	szerettek	szeretnétek
(ők/Önök)	szeretnek	szeretnének

Possessive suffixes

[This is taken from the Duolingo Hungarian Tips and Notes ]

Possessive suffixes

In many languages, you use possessive adjectives to express who a certain object belongs to :

• my table or her shoe

Hungarian does not have possessive adjectives like my or her instead possessive suffixes. They are similar to possessive adjectives in that they indicate the person and number of the possessor but they are attached to the noun:

• az asztalom ‘my table’

• a cipője ‘her/his shoe’

The forms are as follows:

	Hungarian	English
1SG	-öm, -om, -m	my
2SG	-öd, -ed, -od, -d	your (sg.)
3SG	-je, -ja, -a	his/her/its
1PL	-ünk, -unk, -nk	our
2PL	-(ö)tök, -(e)tek, -(o)tok	your (pl.)
3PL	-jük, -juk, -uk	their

They require vowel harmony so if a noun ends in a vowel... cipő ‘shoe’ has front vowels and ends in a vowel, so its forms are:

	Hungarian	English
1SG	cipő-m	my shoe
2SG	cipő-d	your (sg.) shoe
3SG	cipő-je	her/his shoe
1PL	cipő-nk	our shoe
2PL	cipő-tök	your (pl.) shoe
3PL	cipő-jük	their shoe

asztal ‘table' has back vowels and ends in a consonant, so its forms are:

	Hungarian	English
1SG	asztal-om	my table
2SG	asztal-od	your (sg.) table
3SG	asztal-a	her/his table
1PL	asztal-unk	our table
2PL	asztal-otok	your (pl.) table
3PL	asztaluk	their table

Geography

[This is taken from the Duolingo Hungarian Tips and Notes, Geography skill]

Németországban, Magyarországon

In Germany is Németországban, but in Hungary is Magyarországon. But why do they have different endings?

Most towns in Hungary take surface suffixes (-n,-on -en -ön ), while the majority of places outside of Hungary use inside suffixes (-ban, -ben ):

• Szegedre - Szegeden - Szegedről: to, in, from Szeged

• Bécsbe - Bécsben - Bécsből: to, in, from Vienna

• Magyarországra - Magyarországon - Magyarországról: to, in, from Hungary

• Svédországba - Svédországban - Svédországból: to, in, from Sweden

Exception to these rules are Hungarian towns that end with : -i, -j, -m, -n, -ny, and -r (unless it is in -vár ... ) ! These take the inside suffixes: Tamásiból, Tokajban, Veszprémben, Debrecenből, Tihanyba, Egerben.

Takes the -ban-ben case	Takes the -on -en -ön case
Countries:	Countries:
Most foreign countries	Magyarország
(a few islands)	most islands
Japánban, Kubában	Izlandon, Máltán, Korzikán, Krétán, Madagaszkáron
-	ending with -föld
-	Thaiföldön
Cities/Towns:	Cities/Towns:
Cities outside Hungary	Most Hungarian towns
Londonban, Berlinben	Budapesten, Szegeden
Hungarian cities ending -i, -j, -m, -n, and -ny	In neighboring countries, towns with Hungarian names
Debrecenben, Veszprémben	Kassán, Aradon (but: Bécsben)

See also this link: Myhunlang blog: Suffixes / Adverbs of Place

Irregular towns

In the case of Pécs and a few other towns there's a third, archaic, suffix in use: Pécsett, Győrött. But Duo also accepts the regular forms: Pécsen, Győrben.

  Nowadays, more and more people use the Pécsen, Győrben forms and the  -ett -ött ending is falling out of use, but they are technically correct...

Articles

Names of rivers, lakes, islands, hills, mountains, roads, streets, squares, buildings, and institutes tend to have a definite article, even if it's not used in the English translation.

A Margitsziget
A Parlament
A Budai Vár
A Kékestető
A Duna
A Tisza
A Balaton

A Margitszigetre megyek. - I am going to Margaret Island.

A Duna mellett sétálunk. - We are walking next to the Danube.

City and town names are used without an article.

Budapesten lakom. - I live in Budapest

This, That

Ez a, Az a

In English, demonstrative adjectives are ‘this’ and ‘that’. In Hungarian, they are a bit more complex:

• ez a(z) ‘this’

• az a(z) ‘that’

They consist of ez ‘this’ plus a definite article a; or az ‘that’ and a definite article a. In both cases, the definite article can take on a -z if the following word starts with a vowel:

• ez a ház ‘this house’

• az a ház ‘that house’

• ez az alma ‘this apple’

• az az alma ‘that apple’

for plurals:

• ezek a házak ‘these houses’

• azok a házak ‘those houses’

• ezek az almák ‘these apples’

• azok az almák ‘those apples’

In a sentence:

• Ez az alma piros. = This apple is red.

• Az a ház szép. = That house is nice.

• Ezek a lányok diákok. = These girls are students.

• Azok a férfiak ügyvédek. = Those men are lawyers.

If this/that/these/those describes a noun, we use the ez a(z) / az a(z) / ezek a(z) / azok a(z) forms, as above.

The other "Ez"

If this / that / these / those are "stand alone words" (they are not directly in front of a noun), we use the simpler forms: ez, az, ezek, azok.

This is a table. = Ez egy asztal.

That is a table. = Az egy asztal.

These are apples. = Ezek almák.

Those are apples. = Azok almák.

In an earlier skill you saw that you can add an adjective to this structure, for example:

This is a black car. = Ez egy fekete autó.

That is a nice house. = Az egy szép ház.

Difference

In terms of grammar, the following are two different sentences.

This is a black car. = Ez egy fekete autó. (subject: This =Ez)

This car is black. = Ez az autó fekete. (subject: This car =Ez az autó)