Lesson Seven: Plural and Numbers 10 to 100

Vocabulary
Grammar
Exercises

Vocabulary

fiú (-t) - boy
lány (-t) - girl
gyerek (-et) - child
fa ('-t) - tree
csak - only
iskola ('-t) - school
hoz - to bring
étlap (-ot) - menu
kutya ('-t) - dog
víz (-et) - water
bor (-t) - wine
üveg (-et) - bottle
pohár (poharat) - glass (drinking)
régi - old (non-living things only)
új - new
néhány - some, a few
iszik - to drink (irregular infinitive inni)

A pincér négy étlapot hoz.
The waiter is bringing four menus.

Ez a régi autó nagyon szép.
This old car is very pretty.

Grammar

Numbers 10 to 100

Here are more numbers for you to learn:

tizenegy - 11              negyven - 40
tizenketto" - 12           negyvenegy - 41
tizenhárom - 13            negyvennégy - 44
tizennégy - 14             ötven - 50
tizenöt - 15               ötvenöt - 55
tizenhat - 16              hatvan - 60
tizenhét - 17              hetven - 70
tizennyolc - 18            nyolcvan - 80
tizenkilenc - 19           kilencven - 90
húsz - 20                  száz - 100
huszonegy - 21             
huszonketto" - 22
harminc - 30
harmincegy - 31
harminchárom - 33

Notes:

-Make sure to pronounce tizenegy (11) and tizennégy (14) differently.
-And notice for numbers four and above, the suffix van/ven makes the number forty, fifty, sixty, etc.
-If the word harminc looks really far off from három, notice that the first four letters are just három without the accent and the 'o'.

Remember that after any quantifier the noun appears in the singular. So 'a hundred books' is still 'a hundred book' in Hungarian. Here are some sentences:

Száz ember van az étteremben.
There are a hundred people in the restaurant.

Csak tizenhárom egyetemista van ma.
There are only thirteen students today.

Sok fiú van az iskolában, de csak néhány lány van.
There are a lot of boys in the school, but only a few girls.

The Plural

Forming the plural in Hungarian is as easy as in English. In English you add -s or -es, and in Hungarian you add a -K. With words ending in a consonant, a link vowel o/e/ö is required before the K as with the accusative suffix -t. Some words use the link vowel a, but these are the same words that use a with the -t suffix. One difference from the -t suffix is that while sometimes -t can appear without a link vowel after a consonant, -K cannot. Look a the following table giving nouns plus their accusative and plural forms:

Noun	Accusative	Plural
nyelv	nyelvet	nyelvek
barát	barátot	barátok
kutya	kutyát	kutyák
ház	házat	házak
város	várost	városok

The plural is kind of funny in Hungarian. As you already know, nouns appear in singular after any type of quantifier. As for verbs, if the subject consists of a plural noun (gyerekek, emberek, etc.), then the verb must be in plural as well. BUT, if the subject consists of more than one singular subject (a férfi és a no", etc.), then the verb can be either in singular or plural, it doesn't matter. Here are a few sentences:

A gyerekek a házban vannak.
The children are in the house.

Péter és Zsuzsa a városban van.
Peter and Zsuzsa (Susan) are in the city.

Gabi és Anna Magyarországra utazik.
Gabi and Anna are travelling to Hungary.

You should note also the plurals Ezek/Azok 'these/those':
Ezek az új fák.
These are the new trees.

Remember that the form nincsenek is used with plurals in the places where nincs is used in the singular:
A gyerekek nincsenek a házban.
The children are not in the house.

Lastly, many times more than one suffix can appear on a noun. The plural always comes first. When the suffix -t follows a plural, the link vowels are always a/e. Other suffixes (e.g. -N) take o/e as usual. Look at these samples:
Szeretem ezeket az új fákat.
I like these new trees.

Látod azokat a gyerekeket?
Do you see those children?

Az étlapok az asztalokon vannak.
The menus are on the tables.

Exercises

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Egy üveg bort és két poharat kérek.
2. Néhány új könyv van az asztalon.
3. A pincér az étlapokat hozza?
4. Hetvenöt ember van itt.
5. Péter és Béla Londonba megy.

Translate the following into Hungarian:

6. Do you (plural) see those old trees?
7. The children are in the house.
8. There are thirty boys and twenty girls in the school.
9. Kati and János are in Budapest.
10. These dogs are drinking water.

Click here for the answers.

E-mail me