Hungarian and English

Genders

In Hungarian, there are no distinctions between genders.

Nominative pronouns

The third-person pronouns can only refer to people (or beloved pet, car...)

(hu) Ő fut. → He/She is running.
(hu) Ő elment haza. → He/She went home.
(hu) Ő szereti az almát. → He/She likes apples.

Accusative pronouns

In accusative case "őket" may refer to objects or animals as well as people, though "őt" is usually only for humans (or beloved pet, car...).

(hu) (Én) szeretem őt. → I love him/her.
(hu) (Én) szeretem azt. → I love it.
(hu) Caesar a kutyám. (Én) szeretem őt. → Caesar is my dog. I love him.
(hu) A zsiráfok szépek. Én szeretem őket. → Giraffes are nice. I love them.

Possessive Pronouns

In Hungarian we use a lot of suffixes. We also put the possesive pronouns at the end of the noun, unlike English which uses a plus word to express it.

(hu) Itt van a házam. → Here is my house.
(hu) Itt van a házad. → Here is your (singular) house.
(hu) Itt van a háza. → Here is his/her/its house.
(hu) Itt van a házunk. → Here is our house.
(hu) Itt van a házatok. → Here is your (plural) house.
(hu) Itt van a házuk. → Here is their house.

Past tense

In Hungarian we use „-t” or „-tt”at the end of the verbs to express past tense. However it is before the suffix of the personal pronoun, whereas in English the suffix of past tense ("-d") is at the very end of the verb.

(hu) Levelet írtam. → I wrote a letter.
(hu) Sokat futottam. → I ran a lot.
(hu) Jól aludtam. → I slept well.

Tenses

There are only three tenses in Hungarian, but we can use adverbs to modify their time or meaning. However in English there are more tenses of present, past and future.

(hu) Ő futott az Olimpián. → He ran on the Olimpics.
(hu) Ő futott, amikor meghallott valamit. → He was running, when he heard something.
(hu) Ő futott, mielőtt megcsinálta a házifeladatát. → He had run before he did his homework.

(hu) Ő fut mindennap. → He runs everyday.
(hu) Ő fut most. → He is running now.

(hu) Ő futni fog az Olimpián az újság szerint. → He will run on the Olimpics according to the newspaper.
(hu) Ő futni fog holnap ilyenkor. → He will be running by this time tomorrow.
(hu) Ő futni fog, már tegnap eldöntötte. → He is going to run, he had already decided it yesterday.

Word separation

Simple words

In English we do not separate words at the end of the line, but in Hungarian we do it a lot. We separate words such that at the beginnings of the syllable there should be one consonant, except for when we have two vowels next to each other.

krumpli (potato) → krump-li
dió (nut) → di-ó
nyomtatható (printable) → nyom-tat-ha-tó

Complex words

However if it is a complex word, we separate it between the two words it consists of.

szemüveg (glasses) → szem-ü-veg
kerekasztal (roundtable) → ke-rek-asz-tal
hóember (snowman) → hó-em-ber

Writing of names

While in English the names are written as „first name” „surname”, in Hungarian it is just the opposite. We write names as „surname” „first name”.

(hu) Kiss Péter → Péter Kiss
(hu) Nagy Bence → Bence Nagy
(hu) Kovács Kata → Kata Kovács

Writing of dates

In Hungarian we write the dates in a different order. The first is the year, the second is the month and the last one is the day.

(hu) 2016.01.24. → 24.01.2016.
(hu) 1998.08.22. → 22.08.1998.
(hu) 2000.03.12. → 12.03.2000.

Articles

Definite article

The definite articels are „a” or „az” in Hungarian, while in English there is just one, „the”.We put „a” before a word that starts with a consonant, and we put „az” before a word that starts with a vowel.

(hu) az ablak → the window
(hu) az elefánt → the elephant
(hu) a krokodil → the crocodile
(hu) a telefon → the telephone

Before possessed nominals

Before possessed nominals in Hungarian we use a definite article, while in English we do not.

(hu) a kutyám → my dog
(hu) az elefántod → your elephant
(hu) a szendvicseink → our sandwiches

(except in 'have' constructions)

Before possessive pronouns

We also use a definite article before possessive pronouns, however in English we do not.

(hu) az enyém → mine
(hu) a tiéd → yours
(hu) a miénk → ours

Before nominals with a demonstrative pronoun

Hungarian also uses a definite article before nominals with a demonstrative pronoun, while English does not.

(hu) ez az alma → this apple
(hu) azok az ablakok → those windows
(hu) az a macska → that cat

Before a noun in order to give it a generic connotation

In Hungarian we put a definite article before a noun to give it a generic connotation. English uses plural form to express the same.

(hu) Szeretem a pénteket. → I like Fridays.

In a colloquial speech before a person's name

In Hungarian we uses articles before a person's name only in colloquial speech. We do not use it in formal speech.

(hu) Okos a Sári. → Sári is clever.
(hu) Szeretem a Pétert. → I love Péter.
(hu) Ismered a Katát? → Do you know Kata?

Indefinite article

While in English there are two types of indefinite articles („a” and „an”), in Hungarian there is only one, „egy”.

(hu) Ez egy szép fa. → This is a nice tree.
(hu) Van egy almám. → I have got an apple.
(hu) Van egy barna kutya az utcán. → There is a brown dog on the street.

Zero article

Before predicate nouns, in Hungarian we do not use articles.

(hu) Mari fodrász, Marci asztalos. → Mari is a hairdresser, Marci is a carpenter.

Person agreement with the verb

In English person agreement only appears at third-person singular, in the present verb form (additional „s”), and at the different forms of to be. In Hungarian there is always person agreement.

(hu) Én futok mindennap. → I run everyday.
(hu) Te futsz mindennap. → You run everyday.
(hu) Ő fut mindennap. → He runs everyday

(hu) Én boldog vagyok. → I am happy.
(hu) Te boldog vagy. → You are happy.
(hu) Ő boldog. → He is happy (there is no „to be” in present tense of the third-person singular in Hungarian)

(hu) Én szomorú voltam. → I was sad.
(hu) Te szomorú voltál. → You were sad.
(hu) Ő szomorú volt. → He was sad.

Word order

There are a lot of differences between Hungarian and English word order. English word order is very rigid (usually SVO), whereas the Hungarian one is really flexible (however it has very little difference in meaning according to different word orders, and it is also affected by the emphases).

(hu) Sütöttem tortát tegnap. → I baked a cake yesterday.
(hu) Sütöttem tegnap tortát. → I baked a cake yesterday.
(hu) Tegnap sütöttem tortát. → I baked a cake yesterday.
(hu) Tegnap tortát sütöttem. → I baked a cake yesterday.
(hu) Tortát sütöttem tegnap. → I baked a cake yesterday.

Marking of cases on nouns

Hungarian uses suffixes at the end of the nouns to express different cases, whereas English uses plus words.

Nominative case

(hu) autó → car (as a subject)
(hu) szék → chair (as a subject)
(hu) alma → apple (as a subject)

Accusative case

(hu) autót → car (as an object)
(hu) széket → chair (as an object)
(hu) almát → apple (as an object)

Dative case

(hu) autónak → to the car
(hu) széknek → to the chair
(hu) almának → to the apple

Instrumental-comitative case

(hu) autóval → with the car
(hu) székkel → with the chair
(hu) almával → with the apple

Causal-final case

(hu) autóért → for the car
(hu) székért → for the chair
(hu) almáért → for the apple

Translative case

(hu) autóvá → (turn) into a car
(hu) székké → (turn) into a chair
(hu) almává → (turn) into an apple

Terminative case

(hu) autóig → up to the car
(hu) székig → up to the chair
(hu) almáig → up to the apple