Today we will have some coffee and learn about basic Hungarian sentence structure!
Hungarian grammar can seem frightening at first because as I hear:
Verbs are conjugated (thankfully adjectives aren't!)
There is formal and informal language
Conjugation also differs whether there's a concrete object following it or not
Sometimes there are more examples than what follows the rule
There is a general sentence structure but it changes depending on the emphasis
It's useful to know that subject can be left out in Hungarian because the conjugation will tell you who the subject is. The sentence structure stays the same even if it's a question, you just need to raise your tone by the end. But this sentence structure is not strict at all, so don't worry about it too much.
(SUBJECT) + CONJUGATED VERB + (OBJECT)
I know it sounds difficult, so the best way to learn Hungarian is through useful example phrases! Like ordering coffee!
If one goes to a restaurant or a coffee shop, there are two things they better know: how to ask for something and how to thank for that. Let's get started!
Kérlek - Please (informal)
Kérem - Please (formal)
Kösz / Köszi - Thanks (informal)
Köszönöm - Thank you (formal)
Fun fact: when speaking more politely, Hungarians tend to add "szépen" at the end of these sentences e.g. Kérlek szépen, Köszi szépen which means very much in this sense, but literally it means beautifully.
Kérlek and Kérem comes from the verb "kér" which means to ask. But you can also use the verb ''szeret' which means to love to express what would you like to have. So how to order a coffee (kávé)?
Egy kávét, kérlek! - One coffee, please!
Kérek egy kávét / Egy kávét kérek. - I'm asking for a coffee.
Szeretnék egy kávét / Egy kávét szeretnék. - I'd like (to have) a coffee.
Egy kávé lesz, köszönöm. - It will be a coffee, thank you.
Have you noticed the object marker?
When coffee was used as an object in the first three sentences, it got an extra -t which is the object marker in Hungarian. If the noun ends with a vowel, it's a simple -t, if it's a consonant it usually gets tricky, there are many variants, so for now remember the -t! For example: A menüt, kérlek! - A menu, please!
Useful tip: when you don't know the name of the drink or the dish but you have a menu in front of you, you can just point at it and say: "Ezt kérem." or "Ezt szeretném." which means I would like to have this.
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