|
Contents
Introduction
Hungarian facts
Hungarian alphabet
Hungarian grammar overview
Useful Hungarian phrases
Famous Hungarians
Introduction
Hungarian, along with Finnish and Estonian belongs
to the Finno-Ugrian language family. All Finno-Ugrian languages are
thought to have derived from a common proto-language, Proto-Uralic
which was spoken some 6000 years ago (or even earlier) in the forest
zone of Northern Eurasia.
 Back
to top
Hungarian facts
Location: Central Europe, Northwest of
Romania
Natural resources: bauxite, coal, natural gas, fertile soils,
arable land
Industries: mining, metallurgy, construction materials, processed
foods, textiles, chemicals (especially pharmaceuticals), motor vehicles
Basic alphabet and pronunciation
|
Letter
|
Pronunciation
|
| Aa |
'o' as in cot |
| Áá |
'a' as in father |
| Bb |
'b' as in boy |
| Cc |
'ts' as in
cats |
| Cscs |
'ch' as in
chat |
| Dd |
'd' as in door |
| Dzdz |
like the English d+z |
| Dzs dzs |
'j' as in jive |
| Ee |
'e' as in set |
| Éé |
'ay' as in day |
| Ff |
'f' as in fall |
| Gg |
'g' as in good |
| Gygy |
'dge' as in
fudge |
| Hh |
'h' as in happy |
| Ii |
'i' as in sit |
| Í í |
EE as in feel |
| Jj |
'y' as in youth |
| Kk |
'k' as in kitchen |
| Ll |
'l' as in lamp |
|
Lyly
|
Soft l almost equal to y
as in youth |
| Mm |
'm' as in map |
| Nn |
'n' as in never |
| Nyny |
'ni' as in
onion |
| Oo |
'o' as in open |
| Óó |
'o' as in low |
| Öö |
'er' as in her |
| Őő |
as a long ‘ö’ |
| Pp |
'p' as in put |
| Qq |
Only in foreign words |
| R r |
Rolled |
| Ss |
'sh' as in
shell |
| Szsz |
's' as in sale |
| Tt |
't' as in top |
| Tyty |
'tu' an in
tune |
| Uu |
'oo' as in
look |
| Úú |
'u' as in dupe |
| Üü |
'ew' as in
new |
| Űű |
as a longer 'ü' |
| Vv |
v in very |
| Ww |
Only in foreign words |
| Yy |
Only in foreign words |
| Zz |
'z' as in zebra |
| Zszs |
's' as in measure |
Back
to top
Hungarian grammar overview
There are no genders in Hungarian grammar. So there is no
"he" and "she", and no gender for words either.
This is why Hungarian people occasionally say "he" for a
girl or vice versa.
Unlike many other major languages, the first letters of certain
words are not capitalised (such as "G" in German or "E"
in English). The only capitals are for names/places, etc., and for
the first letter of a sentence.
Unlike in English, the order of words is not fixed, usually
the sequence of the words reflects decreasing importance.
Nouns
Nouns are flexible and are declined based upon their; number, person
and case.
Number - Singular or Plural.
Person - Usually indicated with a person suffix on the possessed
noun.
Case - 'Local' which shows concrete conditions or 'non-local' which
express the primary function, such as subject, direct and indirect,
object, possessor or instrument.
Adjectives
Adjectives can be used as nouns and are fully declined.
Pronouns
Hungarian pronouns are classified into two cases and 5 types;
Cases
Nominative
Accusative
Types
Reflective
Possessive
Demonstrative
Interrogative
Relative
Numerals
Numerals precede nouns and do not agree with them.
Verbs
Verbs consist of a stem, followed
by a tense suffix, followed by a person and number suffix;
Tense
Past – marked by t suffix
Present - tense suffix is zero
Future tense - made with ‘fog ’with
different personal endings + infinitive
Back
to top
Some useful Hungarian phrases
|
English
|
Hungarian
|
|
Yes/No
|
Igem/Nem
|
|
Hello
|
Szia(on 1 person)/Sziastok(to more
people)
|
|
Goodbye
|
Viszontlátásra
|
|
Good morning
|
Jó reggelt
|
|
Good afternoon
|
Jó napot
|
|
Good evening
|
Jó estét
|
|
Good night
|
Jó éjszakát
|
|
Please
|
Kérem
|
|
Excuse me! (sorry)
|
Bocsánat!
|
|
Excuse me! (to get attention)
|
Elnézést!
|
|
What is your name?
|
Hogy hívják?
|
|
My name is Pete
|
Pete vagyok
|
|
Pleased to meet you
|
Örülök hogy megismerhettem
|
|
How much does it cost?
|
Mennyie kerül?
|
|
Excuse me where is the train station?
|
Elnézést, hol van a vasútállomás?
|
|
“ the bus stations?
|
“ az autóbusz
állomás?
|
|
“ where can I get a taxi?
|
Elnézést, hol van a taxi állomás?
|
Famous Hungarians
Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
– composer, was one of the founders of the field of ethnomusicology.
Franz (sometimes Ferenc) Liszt (1811-1886) – virtuoso pianist and a composer
Imre Kertész (born 1929) –
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2002 for his writings describing
his experiences as a sixteen year old boy in the Auschwitz concentration
camp
Paul Erdős (1913-1996) – Mathematician, worked on problems in combinatorics, graph theory and
number theory
Dennis Gabor (Gábor Dénes) (1900-1979) – Physicist, invented holography in 1947 – received Nobel Prize in Physics
in 1971
Back
to top
|
