You know the grammar of Hungarian now. What separates a C1 speaker from a C2 speaker is mostly register: knowing which words belong where. The same idea can be said in a textbook way, a friendly way, a slangy way or an official way, and Hungarians notice immediately if you get it wrong. In this lesson you will meet the casual and colourful side of the language: slang, nicknames, idioms and proverbs, and the varieties spoken across the Carpathian Basin.
Casual greetings
You learned szia in Lesson 3. Among friends there are many more ways to say hello and goodbye. Here they are, from the most neutral to the most casual:
| Hungarian | Use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Szia! / Sziasztok! | hi; bye | To one person / to several. The everyday informal greeting. |
| Helló! | hello; bye | Very common, a little more casual than szia. |
| Szevasz! / Szevasztok! | hi; bye | Friendly, slightly old-fashioned. Popular with older men. |
| Csá! | hi; bye | Very casual, mostly among young people. |
| Pá! | bye | Casual. Often doubled: pápá! |
| Viszlát! | bye | Short for viszontlátásra. Neutral-casual. |
| Mizu? | what's up? | Slang, from mi újság? (what's new?). |
At the end of a message to a friend or family member, people often write Puszi (kiss), much like English "x".
Slang
Every Hungarian speaker uses some slang, and you will hear it constantly in films, on social media and in conversation. You don't have to use it, but you should understand it. Here are some of the most common words:
tök (totally, really) Literally "pumpkin". Tök jó! = Really good!
király (cool, great) Literally "king". Ez király! = That's great!
menő (cool, trendy) Literally "going". A present participle (Lesson 23).
durva (intense; amazing; awful) Literally "rough". Depends on the tone!
gáz (embarrassing, bad) Literally "gas". Ez gáz. = That's awkward.
para (worry, problem; scary) Nem para! = No problem!
cuki (cute)
szuper (super, great)
naná (of course!)
haver (mate, buddy)
srác (guy, lad)
csaj (girl)
kaja (food, grub)
pia (booze)
buli (party)
lóvé (money, cash)
dumál (to chat, to talk (a lot))
Tök jó volt a buli tegnap! (The party yesterday was really good!)
Ez a kabát nagyon menő. (This coat is really cool.)
Nem para, majd holnap megcsinálom. (No worries, I'll do it tomorrow.)
Kicsit gáz, de elfelejtettem a nevét. (It's a bit embarrassing, but I've forgotten her name.)
Jössz este? Naná! (Are you coming tonight? Of course!)
Use slang carefully
Slang changes quickly and depends heavily on age and social group. Words like tök, szuper and buli are safe almost anywhere informal. Words like csá, pia and lóvé are much more casual. Never use any of them in a job interview, at the doctor's, or in a letter to an office.
One idea, four registers
Here is how the same thing changes with register. This is the kind of choice you make all the time at C2:
| Slang | Casual | Neutral | Official |
|---|---|---|---|
| lóvé | pénz | pénz | pénzeszköz |
| kaja | kaja | étel | élelmiszer |
| verda | kocsi | autó | gépjármű |
| suli | suli | iskola | oktatási intézmény |
Diminutives and nicknames
Hungarian loves diminutives: endings that make a word smaller, cuter or more affectionate. The two most common are -i and -ka/-ke.
-i: the everyday shortener
The ending -i is added to a shortened word. It makes it informal and friendly. Many of these words are now completely normal:
csoki (chocolate) From csokoládé.
fagyi (ice cream) From fagylalt.
mozi (cinema) From mozgókép, "moving picture". Nobody says the long form any more.
suli (school) From iskola.
nagyi (granny)
anyu, apu (mum, dad)
It is also the usual way to shorten first names. Hungarians almost always use the short form with friends:
| Full name | Short form |
|---|---|
| Katalin | Kati |
| István | Pisti |
| László | Laci |
| Ferenc | Feri |
| Zsuzsanna | Zsuzsi |
| Gábor | Gabi |
| Erzsébet | Erzsi |
-ka/-ke: small and dear
The ending -ka/-ke (and its longer form -cska/-cske) means "little", and is full of affection. It is often added to a name that has already been shortened:
Évike (little Éva) Éva → Évi → Évike
Katika (little Kati)
Petike (little Peti) From Péter.
anyuka, apuka (mummy, daddy) Very common, even among adults.
lányka (little girl)
házacska (little house, cottage)
könyvecske (little book, booklet)
Not just for children
Diminutives are not only for talking to children. Adults use them all the time, especially with food: Kérek egy fagyit! (I'd like an ice cream!) or Kérsz egy kis sütit? (Would you like some cake?), where süti comes from sütemény. Using them well makes you sound warm and natural.
The -ék plural: Kovácsék
Here is a very useful ending that English doesn't have. Add -ék to a name or a family word, and it means "X and family" or "X and the people with them":
Kovácsék (the Kovácses, the Kovács family)
Péterék (Péter and his family (or friends))
Annáék (Anna and her family) Final a lengthens.
a szomszédék (the neighbours (and their family))
anyámék (my mum and the family; my parents)
It takes plural verbs and any case ending:
Kovácsék jövő héten Spanyolországba utaznak. (The Kovácses are going to Spain next week.)
Szombaton Péteréknél voltunk. (On Saturday we were at Péter's place.)
Vasárnap anyáméknál ebédelünk. (On Sunday we're having lunch at my parents'.)
Mikor jöttök hozzánk? Annáékat is meghívtuk. (When are you coming to us? We've invited Anna and her family too.)
Idioms
An idiom (szólás) is a phrase whose meaning you can't guess from its words. Here are some that you will hear often:
Kilóg a lóláb. (The truth comes out.) Literally "the horse's leg is sticking out".
Ez nem az én asztalom. (That's not my business.) Literally "that's not my table".
Benne vagyunk a pácban. (We're in a fix.) Literally "we're in the marinade".
Kosarat kapott. (She was turned down.) Literally "she got a basket". For romantic refusals.
Beadta a kulcsot. (It broke down; it gave up.) Literally "it handed in the key". For machines, cars and people.
Kutyából nem lesz szalonna. (A leopard doesn't change its spots.) Literally "a dog never becomes bacon".
Fogalmam sincs. (I have no idea.) Literally "I don't even have a concept".
Proverbs
Proverbs (közmondások) are short sayings that give advice or state a truth. Hungarians use them a lot, often only saying the first half and letting you finish it in your head.
| Hungarian | Literally | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Lassan járj, tovább érsz. | Walk slowly and you'll get further. | More haste, less speed. |
| Ki korán kel, aranyat lel. | Who rises early finds gold. | The early bird catches the worm. |
| Addig üsd a vasat, amíg meleg. | Strike the iron while it is hot. | Strike while the iron is hot. |
| Ajándék lónak ne nézd a fogát. | Don't look at the teeth of a gift horse. | Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. |
| Nem esik messze az alma a fájától. | The apple doesn't fall far from its tree. | Like father, like son. |
| Aki másnak vermet ás, maga esik bele. | He who digs a pit for others falls into it himself. | Hoist with his own petard. |
| Jobb ma egy veréb, mint holnap egy túzok. | Better a sparrow today than a bustard tomorrow. | A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. |
| Sok kicsi sokra megy. | Many small things add up to a lot. | Every little helps. |
| Minden kezdet nehéz. | Every beginning is hard. | All beginnings are difficult. |
| Néma gyereknek anyja sem érti a szavát. | Even a mother doesn't understand a silent child. | If you don't ask, you don't get. |
Notice how much grammar from this course is packed into them: the subjunctive in Lassan járj and ne nézd, the possessive with case a fájától, and Addig ... amíg (until, as long as).
Regional varieties
Standard Hungarian (köznyelv) is understood everywhere, and the regional differences in Hungary are small compared with, say, English or German. You will have no trouble being understood anywhere. But there are distinct regional varieties, and at C2 you should know about them:
- Palóc is spoken in northern Hungary and southern Slovakia. It is best known for its distinctive pronunciation of a and á, which makes it instantly recognisable to other Hungarians.
- Székely is spoken in Székelyföld (Szeklerland), in the east of Transylvania in Romania. It keeps many older words and has its own expressions, and Székely speech has a reputation for being witty and dry.
- Csángó is spoken in Moldavia, in eastern Romania, outside the Carpathian mountains. It separated from the rest of Hungarian long ago and is very archaic. It is now endangered, as most Csángó people also speak Romanian, and many children no longer learn it.
Within Hungary, one well-known regional feature is ö-zés ("saying ö"), traditional around Szeged, where many words with e are said with ö.
Nonstandard forms you will hear
Some forms are common in speech but are considered incorrect in the standard language. Hungarians notice them and sometimes judge people by them, so it is worth knowing what they are, and avoiding them yourself:
| Name | Nonstandard | Standard | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| nákolás | olvasnák (for "I would read") | olvasnék | I would read |
| suksükölés | lássuk (for "we see it") | látjuk | we see it |
| -ba for -ban | a boltba vagyok | a boltban vagyok | I'm in the shop |
Notice the second row: lássuk is perfectly correct as the subjunctive "let's see" (Lesson 21). It is only wrong when used for the ordinary present tense.
Hungarian outside Hungary
Hungarian is spoken by about 13 million people. Around 9.5 million of them live in Hungary. Most of the rest live in the neighbouring countries, in areas that were part of the Kingdom of Hungary until the Treaty of Trianon in 1920 redrew the borders after the First World War:
| Country | Region | Hungarian name |
|---|---|---|
| Romania | Transylvania | Erdély |
| Slovakia | Southern Slovakia | Felvidék |
| Serbia | Vojvodina | Vajdaság |
| Ukraine | Transcarpathia | Kárpátalja |
| Austria | Burgenland | Őrvidék |
Romania has the largest community, around a million people, mostly in Transylvania, and cities such as Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) and Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mureș) have a rich Hungarian cultural life. There are also large communities further away, especially in the United States and Canada, mostly descended from emigrants of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Hungarian spoken in these countries is the same language, but it often includes loanwords from the local majority language, and some official terms differ. For example, Hungarians in Romania use some Romanian words in everyday life, and Hungarians in Slovakia some Slovak ones. If you travel there, you will find people delighted to hear their language spoken by a foreigner.
Conclusion
Register is the last step to fluency: not only knowing the words, but knowing when to use them. Listen to how Hungarians talk to friends, to children and to officials, and notice the differences. Learn the Vocabulary and try the Exercises. In the final lesson you will put everything together and read three original texts.