Hungarian Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Hungarian grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Hungarian and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Hungarian and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Hungarian.

Prepositions - Hungarian
and és
above felett
under alatt
before előtt
after után
in front of előtt
behind mögött
far from messze
near közel
in #NAME?
inside belül
outside kívül
with #NAME?
without nélkül
about körülbelül
between között
but de
for valakinek / valaminek
from -tól / -töl
to #NAME?

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Hungarian
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] kés nélkül eszem
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] a templom mellett él
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] magasabb mint ő
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] kis kutyájával jött
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] eltudsz jönni velem?

Negation in Hungarian

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Hungarian
I understand you [affirmative form] megértem, hogy
I don't understand you [negation + verb] nem értem meg
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] nem ez a helyes szó
don't leave me [imperative negation] ne hagyj el
no problem [negation + noun] nincs probléma

Negative Sentences - Hungarian
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] nem beszélek franciául
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] nem volt még németországban
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] nem láthat bennünket
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] nem tud sakkozni?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] nem szeretnénk elkésni

Questions in Hungarian

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Hungarian
how? hogyan?
what? mi?
who? ki?
why? miért?
where? hol?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Hungarian
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] hol laksz?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] vajon beszél kínaiul?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] ez mennyi?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] tudok segíteni?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] mi a neved?

Adverbs in Hungarian

It's time to learn the adverbs in Hungarian. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Hungarian
now most
yesterday tegnap
today ma
tonight ma este
tomorrow holnap
soon hamar / hamarosan
quickly gyorsan
slowly lassan
together együtt
very nagyon
almost majdnem
always mindig
usually rendszerint
sometimes néha
rarely ritkán
never soha

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Hungarian
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] érted most?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] azonnal segítségre van szükségem
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] nagyon intelligens
I will always love you [verb + adverb] mindig szeretni foglak
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] tanulunk együtt németül?

Pronouns in Hungarian

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Hungarian. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Hungarian
I én
you if on friendly terms: "te"
he ő
she ő
we mi
they azok otherwise: "ők"

Object Pronouns - Hungarian
me engem
you önt / téged
him őt
her őt
us minket
them őket

Possessive Pronouns - Hungarian
my az én....
your az ön.... / a te....
his az ő...
her az ő...
our a mi....
their az ő....

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Hungarian
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] barátod vagyok
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] nagyon gyorsan beszélsz
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] három kutyája van
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] tud németül
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] nem szeretnénk elkésni
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] vettek tejet és kenyeret

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Hungarian
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] megtudja mondani a nevét?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] adok neked pénzt
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] írt neki egy levelet
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] meglátogatták tegnap
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] ő tud nekünk segíteni?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] adott nekik élelmiszert

Possessive Pronouns - Hungarian
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] a nevem maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] a bátyád itt lakik
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] anyja főz ​​nekünk
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] a hobbija az olvasás
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] az álmunk a párizsba látogatás
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] a házunk nincs messze

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Hungarian
this is my house ez az én házam
that restaurant is far ez az étterem messze van
these apples are delicious ezek az almák finomak
those stars are shiny azok a csillagok fényesek

I hope you learned a lot about the Hungarian grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!