The Definite Article
You probably deduced from the above sentences that the definite article
in Hungarian is A. Remember to pronounce it like aw and not
like the English indefinite article 'a'. A corresponds to the
English 'the' and before a word beginning with a vowel, A becomes
Az.
A város - the city
Az autó - the car
Equational Sentences
You also probably noticed that in the above sentences there was a
construction like 'A város szép' and 'A no" magyar' in which there was no
verb corresponding to the English 'is'. Hungarian does have a verb 'is'
and it is often used, but for sentences like these, called equational
sentences, it can be omitted. This rule however, only applies to 3rd
person subjects.
Personal Pronouns and the Irregular Verb 'Lenni'
The personal pronouns in Hungarian are as follows, along with their
corresponding forms of the verb 'lenni', 'to be':
| én vagyok I am
| mi vagyunk we are |
| te vagy you are
| ti vagytok you (plural) are |
| o" van he, she, it is
| o"k vannak they are
|
Note: There is also a personal pronoun 'maga' and its plural
form
'maguk' which are the formal, or polite form of 'you'. It uses the
3rd person verb forms however.
Te angol vagy?
Are you English (For example, one teenager to another)
Maga magyar? (remember, we can omit 'van')
Are you Hungarian? (Say, one adult stranger to another)
Like German, French, and other European languages, the forms te
and ti> are used only when speaking with close friends, family,
children, or among young people.
Omission of Personal Pronoun
When using verbs, the ending signifies the person and number, so the
use
of the personal pronouns is optional and they are used mainly for emphasis.
Note the following sentences:
Amerikai vagyok. (also note the preferred word order here)
Angol vagy?
Itt vagyunk. (We are here)
Vocabulary
Grammar
Exercises
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