Review: Lessons One to Four
Lesson One Review
Lesson Two Review
Lesson Three Review
Lesson Four Review
Exercises
Any new grammar points will be marked with a 
Page last updated December 8, 1997.
There was a lot of material covered in Lessons One to Four, so this review is
just to help clarify things and get some practice using the grammar and
vocabulary. Also some minor details will be given that were left out of
the previous grammar lessons. The vocabulary in each section will be from
all four lessons, plus maybe a few new words.
Lesson One Review
In Lesson One, you learned about the definite article A/Az,
equational sentences, omission of the personal pronoun, and the verb
Lenni 'to be'. These are all pretty easy grammar points, but
perhaps the general sentence structure was a little confusing. So the
following sentences are just for you to see more examples of Hungarian
sentence structure in order to improve your understanding of how the
language works. Remember though, that word order is very flexible and
there is almost always more than one way to form the same sentence.
Amerikai vagyok.
I am a American.
Note: this is the usual word order, but if you said 'Vagyok
amerikai'
you would be perfectly understood. So don't sweat about word order, you
will get it right in time. Just
realize that the order of many Hungarian sentences will seem the exact
opposite of English, especially in longer sentences.
Ez a pincér magyar, de az a pincér angol.
This waiter is Hungarian, but that waiter is English.
Note the lack of 'is' in this and the following two sentences.
Az étterem nagyon nagy (big).
The restaurant is very big.
A nyelv szép.
The language is pretty
BUT, van is used when describing WHERE or HOW
someone is:
Laci a házban van.
Laci is in the house.
Hogy van Kati?
How is Kati
Remember, with the first and second persons, the verb 'to be' is needed.
Also remember that the personal pronoun (I, you...) can be omitted. Here
are a few sentences, with the optional personal pronoun in parentheses:
A nevem John. (Én) Egyetemista vagyok.
My name is John. I am a student.
(Ti) Hogy vagytok? -(Mi) Jól vagyunk.
How are you (plural)? We are well.
(Te) Az autóban vagy. (Én) A házban vagyok.
You are in the car. I am in the house.
You can ask me any questions.
Go To Lesson One
Lesson Two Review
In Lesson Two, you learned about the indefinite article egy, the
demonstrative pronouns ez and az, basic greetings, the
concept of vowel harmony. The lesson shouls seem pretty easy now,
after having seen lessons three and four. The following sentences are
just for you to see more examples of word usage and order.
Ez az autó nagy. Ez a nagy autó. Ez a nagy autó szép.
This car is big. This is the big car. This big car is pretty.
Note the differences in the use of ez in these three
sentences. Also note that in the first sentence 'nagy' is a predicate
adjective and therefore follows the noun, while in the second and third
sentences 'nagy' modifies 'autó' and therefore precedes it.
John pincér Londonban.
John is a waiter in London.
Remember that egy is used less than in English, especially in
equational sentences.
Látok egy pincért.
I see a waiter.
(Egy) városban lakom.
I live in a city
Here are two short dialogues using the greetings you learned:
Gabi and Kati are good friends from college.
Gabi: Szia Kati! Hogy vagy?
Kati: Koszi (short for köszönöm), nagyon jól vagyok. És te, hogy vagy?
Gabi: Jól, köszönöm. Dolgozol?
Kati: Igen, sokat (sok - 'a lot') dolgozom. Szia!
Gabi: Szia Kati!
Translation:
G: Hi Kati! How are you?
K: I'm very good thanks. And you, how are you?
G: Good thank you. Are you working?
K: Yes, I am working a lot (Note use of accusative suffix -t on 'sok').
Bye!
G: Bye Kati!
Péter and Mária are colleagues at work.
Péter: Jó napot Mária. Hogy van?
Mária: Köszönöm, jól vagyok. És maga, hogy van?
Péter: Jól vagyok, köszönöm. A viszontlátásra.
Mária: Viszontlátásra.
Translation:
P: Hello, Maria. How are you?
M: I am well thank you. And you, how are you?
P: I'm well thank you. Goodbye.
M: Goodbye.
Notes: The A is optional before 'viszontlátásra'.
And if you want
to express more gratitude for something you can say 'Köszönöm szépen' or
'Nagyon szépen köszönöm', which both mean 'thank you very much' in
ascending order of niceness.
If you have any questions, please ask
me Go To Lesson Two
Lesson Three Review
In Lesson Three you learned the indefinite verb conjugation,
negation, and the ban/ben suffix. The ban/ben suffix
and negation are very straightforward and you have already seen many sentences
in which they appear. As for the
indefinite conjugation, you should memorize the basic pattern and
remember the exceptions. The -ik verbs are very common, but also
very easy since the only two things to remember is that the -ik drops off in
all forms but the 3rd person singular and the the first person singular
always ends with -m. The next group of exceptions are
the verb stems ending in s, z, sz. Just remember that the second
person singular ends in -ol/-el/-öl, as opposed to
-sz. The last group of exceptions includes verb stems ending in
-ít (notice the í has an accent) or ending in two consonants.
These verbs require a link vowel before several of the suffixes, see
Lesson Three for details.
In the following sentences, pay attention to the conjugation of the verb
as well as the usage:
Tanulok Londonban.
I study in London.
Látok egy asztalt.
I see a table.
Eszem (egy) gulyást
I am eating (a) goulash.
Jól beszélsz magyarul.
You speak Hungarian well.
Egy könyvet olvasol?
Are you reading a book?
Dolgozni szeretek.
I love to work.
Egy nagy, szép házban lakom.
I live in a big, pretty house.
Mit mondasz (mondani 'to say')?
What are you saying? (Remember that 'what' is the object, so it takes the
accusative suffix)
Én ismerem (definite) Pétert, de o" nem ismer (indef.).
I know Peter, but he doesn't know me.
Send me any questions.
Go To Lesson Three
Lesson Four Review
Lesson Four covered the accusative suffix -t, and the definite vs.
indefinite conjugations.
There are a few details left to mention about
the accusative before reviewing the definite conjugation. Look at the
following sentences:
Egy nagy, szép autót látok.
I see a big, pretty car.
Notice that the object 'autó' is preceded by two adjectives, but only
'autó' get the suffix -t. So the rule is, only the last word in the
cluster gets the accusative marker. Following is another example sentences,
this time with two objects. Only the last word in each cluster is marked
with the -t.
Egy nagy házat és egy szép autót kérek.
I'd like a big house and a pretty car.
BUT:
Ezt a nagy autót szeretem.
I like this big car
Azt a könyvet olvasom.
I am reading that book.
If the noun is preceded by one of the demonstratives ez or
az, the demonstrative suffix mirrors that of the noun. In other
words, if the suffix -t appears on ez/az as well as the
object. As for the other modifying words in the cluster, they remain
untouched as in the sentences above.
It should also be mentioned that some words like
étterem drop the final vowel when adding the -t suffix. So 'I see
the restaurant' would be: Látom az éttermet. You don't yet know
any other words that follow this pattern, and if any come up in the
vocabulary, the accusative form will be given.
Re-read the explanation given in Lesson Four about when to use the
definite conjugation. You really just need to practise. Here are some
sample sentences to help you:
Egy autót akarok.
I want a car.
Az autót akarom.
I want the car.
Nem ismered Pétert?
You don't know Peter?
Akarok angolul tanulni.
I want to study English.
Szeretem a magyar nyelvet.
I love the Hungarian language.
Have any questions?
Go To Lesson Four
Additional Exercises
Translate the following sentences into English:
1. Hol laknak? -Kanadában.
2. Éva ismeri Pétert?
3. Kérek magyarul tudni.
4. Nem látom az éttermet. Látod?
5. Szeretem ezt a könyvet.
Translate the following into Hungarian:
6. Do you understand that woman?
7. Where is Béla? -He is in the city.
8. This car is very big.
9. I like this big house.
10. I'd like a goulash.
In the following sentences, give the appropriate
Hungarian translation of the English in parentheses:
11. (Are you eating) azt a gulyást?
12. (I speak) magyarul.
13. (We don't see) a pincért.
14. Akarok angolul (to know)
15. (He likes) ezt a könyvet.
Conjugate the verbs tudni, érteni, and olvasni along
with the personal pronouns in the indefinite and definite forms.
Click here for the answers.
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