Lesson Three: Intro to Verbs & More

Vocabulary
Grammar
Exercises

Vocabulary

tanul - he, she, it studies, learns
ért - he, she, it understands
beszél - he, she, it speaks
lakik - he lives
eszik - he eats (irregular infinitve enni)
ül - he, she, it sits
lát - he, she, it sees
dolgozik - he, she, it works
étterem - restaurant
nem - not
de - but
magyarul - Hungarian (adverb, used with the verbs 'study' and 'speak')
angolul - English (adverb like magyarul)
-ban/-ben - suffix in

Beszél magyarul?
Does he (or you formal) speak Hungarian?

Nem, angolul beszél.
No, he speaks English.

Nem lakik Londonban.
He doesn't live in London

Grammar

Verbs

In the above vocabulary, you were given several verbs in their 3rd person singular form. This is the verb stem and is very important. To this stem, Hungarian attaches suffixes to signify person and number. The suffixes are as follows for the indefinite (don't worry about what this means until Lesson Four) present tense conjugation:

	singular	plural
1st person	-ok, -ek, -ök	-unk, -ünk
2nd person	-sz	-tok, -tek, -tök
3rd person	--nothing--	-nak, -nek

You may be wondering why there is sometimes more than one suffix in a box. Well, this is where vowel harmony becomes important. In the above table, where there is more than one suffix listed the first one is used for back verbs, the second for front verbs, and the third for ö,o",ü,u" verbs. Look at the following three tables for the conjugations of the back verb 'tanul' and the front verbs 'beszél' and 'ül'.

tanulni - to study

én tanulok	mi tanulunk
te tanulsz	ti tanultok
o"/maga tanul	o"k/maguk tanulnak

beszélni - to speak

én beszélek	mi beszélünk
te beszélsz	ti beszéltek
o"/maga beszél	o"k/maguk beszélnek

ülni - to sit

én ülök	mi ülünk
te ülsz	ti ültök
o"/maga ül	o"k/maguk ülnek

Notes:
The form ending in -ni above each table is the infinitive form. However, in most dictionaries and in these lessons you will find the verbs given in their third person singular form (e.g. tanul, ért).
The present tense corresponds to English 'I study', 'I am studying', and 'I do study'.

Some exceptions:

1. Many Hungarian verbs stems end in -ik. With these verbs there are two things to note. The -ik appears only in the 3rd person singular, it is dropped before adding other suffixes. And for the first person singular, the suffixes don't end with 'k' but with 'm'. So the verb lakik (lakni) 'to live' is conjugated: lakom, laksz, lakik, lakunk, laktok, laknak. (Note: Some Hungarians do not follow this rule and therefore would say lakok, etc., but that is not correct).

2. Verb stems ending in -s, -z, or -sz have alternate endings for the 2nd person singular for phonetic reasons. The suffix is -l, preceded by the appropriate link vowel, o, e, or ö. So the verb eszik 'to eat' (an -ik verb also) is conjugated: eszem, eszel, eszik, eszünk, esztek, esznek.

3. Verb stems ending in two consonants or -ít require a link vowel a/e/ö before the -sz, -nak/-nek, and -ni (infinitive) suffixes. And before the -tok/-tek suffix there must be a link vowel o/e/ö. Here is the verb mond (mondani) 'to say': mondok, mondasz, mond, mondunk, mondotok, mondanak.

This is enough about verbs for one lesson!

The -ban/-ben Suffix

The English prepositions 'in' and 'inside' correspond to the suffix -ban/-ben in Hungarian. By now you know all about vowel harmony, so you know that -ban is used for back words and -ben is used for front words.

Negation

Negation is simple. Just add nem before the verb.

Tanulok Philadelphiában.
I am studying (or I study) in Philadelphia.

Értek, de nem értesz.
I understand, but you don't understand.

Én nem lakom Los Angeles-ben, de o" ott lakik.
I don't live in Los Angeles, but he lives there.

Magyarul beszéltek? Nem, angolul beszélünk.
Do you (plural) speak Hungarian? No, we speak English.

Látsz?
Do you see?

Itt ülnek.
They are sitting here.

Confused? If you have a question, click on the comment button at the bottom.

Exercises

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Tanulnak Rómában.
2. Nem beszélek angolul.
3. Ott lakom.
4. Jól beszélsz magyarul.
5. Ki ért?

Translate the following into Hungarian:

6. I am eating.
7. Do you (singular, formal) study Hungarian?
8. He is sitting here also.
9. Where do you (plural) study.
10. That waiter works in the restaurant.

Click here for the answers.

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