In this lesson you will learn the phrases you need every day: how to say hello and goodbye, please and thank you, how to ask someone how they are, and how to introduce yourself. You will also learn one of the most important things about talking to Hungarians: the difference between the friendly "you" and the polite "you".
Don't try to understand the grammar of every phrase yet. Learn them as whole phrases, the way you learnt "how do you do" in English.
Friendly and polite: te and Ön
English has one word for "you". Hungarian has two, and you need to choose the right one before you even say hello.
- te is the friendly "you". You use it with friends, family, children, and people your own age in relaxed situations, such as students talking to students. Using te is called tegezés.
- Ön is the polite "you". You use it with strangers, older people, shop staff, officials, and anyone you would call "Mr" or "Mrs" in English. Using the polite forms is called magázás.
There is also a second polite word, maga. It is used a lot in everyday speech, but it can sound too familiar or even rude in the wrong situation, so as a learner it is safer to stick to Ön. Notice that Ön is often written with a capital letter, as a sign of respect.
The polite "you" has a surprise: the verb that goes with it is the same as the "he/she" form. It is a bit like saying "How is Sir?" in very old-fashioned English. You will see this in the phrases below, and Lesson 5 explains it properly.
Which one should I use?
When in doubt, be polite and use the Ön forms. A Hungarian will soon tell you if they want to switch to te, often by saying Tegeződjünk! (Let's use "te"!). Younger Hungarians switch to te very quickly with people their own age.
Hello
Hungarian has different greetings for friends and for everyone else.
With friends
With friends, family, and anyone you say te to, the usual greeting is szia. If you are greeting more than one person, it becomes sziasztok. The best part is that szia also means "bye"!
Szia! (Hi! / Bye! (to one person)) – pronounced “SI-yaw”
Sziasztok! (Hi! / Bye! (to several people)) – pronounced “SI-yaws-tok”
Helló! (Hello!) – pronounced “HEL-loh”
With everyone else
In shops, offices and with people you don't know, use a greeting for the time of day. You can make them extra polite by adding kívánok ("I wish") at the end:
Jó reggelt! (Good morning!) – pronounced “yoh REG-gelt”
Jó napot! (Good day! / Hello!) – pronounced “yoh NAW-pot”
Jó napot kívánok! (Good day! (very polite)) – pronounced “yoh NAW-pot KEE-vaa-nok”
Jó estét! (Good evening!) – pronounced “yoh ESH-tayt”
Jó estét kívánok! (Good evening! (very polite)) – pronounced “yoh ESH-tayt KEE-vaa-nok”
Jó napot is the greeting you will use most. It works from late morning until the evening. Use Jó reggelt in the early morning, until about nine or ten o'clock.
Csókolom
You may hear children say Csókolom! to adults, especially to older women. It literally means "I kiss (your hand)", from the old phrase Kezét csókolom. Some older people still use it as a very polite greeting. You don't need to say it yourself, but now you will know what it means.
Goodbye
With friends, just say szia or sziasztok again. In polite situations, use viszontlátásra. It is a long word, so many people shorten it to viszlát, which you can use in almost any situation.
Viszontlátásra! (Goodbye!) – pronounced “VI-sont-laa-taash-raw”
Viszlát! (Bye!) – pronounced “VIS-laat”
Jó éjszakát! (Good night!) – pronounced “yoh AY-saw-kaat”
Jó napot kívánok! (Have a good day! (when leaving a shop)) – pronounced “yoh NAW-pot KEE-vaa-nok”
Notice that Jó napot kívánok can be said when you leave, too. It then means "I wish you a good day". Jó éjszakát is only said when someone is going to bed, or late at night.
Please and thank you
Thank you is köszönöm. To make it stronger, add szépen ("nicely"). With friends you will often hear the short form köszi.
Köszönöm. (Thank you.) – pronounced “KÖ-sö-nöm”
Köszönöm szépen. (Thank you very much.) – pronounced “KÖ-sö-nöm SAY-pen”
Köszi! (Thanks!) – pronounced “KÖ-si”
When someone thanks you, the usual answer is szívesen ("gladly"), which is the Hungarian "you're welcome":
Szívesen. (You're welcome.) – pronounced “SEE-veh-shen”
"Please" depends on whether you say te or Ön. In polite situations, such as in a shop, use kérem. With a friend, use kérlek. Hungarians also say legyen szíves (literally "be kind"), which is very polite.
kérem (please (polite)) – pronounced “KAY-rem”
kérlek (please (to a friend)) – pronounced “KAYR-lek”
legyen szíves (please, be so kind (polite)) – pronounced “LEH-dyen SEE-vesh”
You will also hear tessék all the time. It is a very useful little word. It means "here you are" when someone hands you something, "yes?" or "how can I help?" when a shop assistant looks at you, and "pardon?" when someone didn't hear you.
Tessék! (Here you are! / Yes, please?) – pronounced “TESH-shayk”
Tessék? (Pardon?) – pronounced “TESH-shayk”
Sorry and excuse me
There are two words to learn here. Bocsánat means "sorry", when you have done something wrong, such as bumping into someone. Elnézést means "excuse me", when you want to get someone's attention or get past them. In practice, both are used in both situations, so don't worry too much about mixing them up.
Bocsánat! (Sorry!) – pronounced “BO-chaa-nawt”
Bocs! (Sorry! (informal)) – pronounced “boch”
Elnézést! (Excuse me!) – pronounced “EL-nay-zaysht”
Elnézést, beszél angolul? (Excuse me, do you speak English?) – pronounced “EL-nay-zaysht, BEH-sayl AWN-go-lul”
Yes and no
igen (yes) – pronounced “I-gen”
nem (no, not) – pronounced “nem”
Nem, köszönöm. (No, thank you.) – pronounced “nem, KÖ-sö-nöm”
Igen, kérem. (Yes, please.) – pronounced “I-gen, KAY-rem”
How are you?
Here the difference between te and Ön really shows. With a friend, you say Hogy vagy?. Politely, you say Hogy van?, using the same form as for "he" or "she":
Hogy vagy? (How are you? (to a friend)) – pronounced “hody vawdy”
Hogy van? (How are you? (polite)) – pronounced “hody vawn”
Hungarians often answer this question honestly, so don't be surprised if you hear more than "fine". Here are some answers:
Jól vagyok, köszönöm. (I'm well, thank you.) – pronounced “yohl VAW-dyok, KÖ-sö-nöm”
Köszönöm, jól. (Well, thank you.) – pronounced “KÖ-sö-nöm, yohl”
Nagyon jól. (Very well.) – pronounced “NAW-dyon yohl”
Megvagyok. (I'm getting by. / Not bad.) – pronounced “MEG-vaw-dyok”
Nem túl jól. (Not too well.) – pronounced “nem tool yohl”
Then ask the question back. Use És te? with a friend, and És Ön? in polite situations. És means "and".
És te? (And you? (to a friend)) – pronounced “aysh teh”
És Ön? (And you? (polite)) – pronounced “aysh ön”
Here is a short conversation between two friends:
Szia, Péter! Hogy vagy? (Hi, Péter! How are you?)
Szia, Anna! Jól vagyok, köszönöm. És te? (Hi, Anna! I'm well, thank you. And you?)
Megvagyok. (I'm getting by.)
And the same conversation in a polite situation:
Jó napot kívánok! Hogy van? (Good day! How are you?)
Köszönöm, jól. És Ön? (Well, thank you. And you?)
Köszönöm, nagyon jól. (Very well, thank you.)
Introducing yourself
There are two easy ways to say your name. You can say A nevem... ("My name is...") or simply put your name before vagyok ("I am"):
A nevem Anna. (My name is Anna.) – pronounced “aw NEH-vem AWN-naw”
Anna vagyok. (I'm Anna.) – pronounced “AWN-naw VAW-dyok”
Péter vagyok. (I'm Péter.) – pronounced “PAY-ter VAW-dyok”
Notice the word order in Anna vagyok: the name comes first and "I am" comes last. This is very normal in Hungarian. To ask someone's name, say:
Hogy hívnak? (What's your name? (to a friend)) – pronounced “hody HEEV-nawk”
Hogy hívják? (What's your name? (polite)) – pronounced “hody HEEV-yaak”
Mi a neved? (What's your name? (to a friend)) – pronounced “mi aw NEH-ved”
Mi a neve? (What's your name? (polite)) – pronounced “mi aw NEH-veh”
When you meet someone, say Örülök! ("I'm glad"), which works like "Nice to meet you". You can make it stronger with nagyon (very):
Örülök! (Nice to meet you!) – pronounced “Ö-rü-lök”
Nagyon örülök! (Very nice to meet you!) – pronounced “NAW-dyon Ö-rü-lök”
You can also say where you are from with the same pattern as your name. The country words in Lesson 1 have matching words for people:
Angol vagyok. (I'm English.) – pronounced “AWN-gol VAW-dyok”
Amerikai vagyok. (I'm American.) – pronounced “AW-meh-ri-kaw-i VAW-dyok”
Kanadai vagyok. (I'm Canadian.) – pronounced “KAW-naw-daw-i VAW-dyok”
Ír vagyok. (I'm Irish.) – pronounced “eer VAW-dyok”
Skót vagyok. (I'm Scottish.) – pronounced “shkoht VAW-dyok”
Words like angol and amerikai start with a small letter in Hungarian, unlike in English.
Family name first
Hungarians put their family name before their first name. The composer Franz Liszt is Liszt Ferenc in Hungarian, and a woman called Anna Kovács will write her name as Kovács Anna. When Hungarians introduce themselves to foreigners, they often switch the order to the English way, which can be confusing!
When you don't understand
These phrases will save you many times. Learn them by heart:
Nem értem. (I don't understand.) – pronounced “nem AYR-tem”
Nem beszélek magyarul. (I don't speak Hungarian.) – pronounced “nem BEH-say-lek MAW-dyaw-rul”
Egy kicsit beszélek magyarul. (I speak a little Hungarian.) – pronounced “edy KI-chit BEH-say-lek MAW-dyaw-rul”
Beszél angolul? (Do you speak English? (polite)) – pronounced “BEH-sayl AWN-go-lul”
Beszélsz angolul? (Do you speak English? (to a friend)) – pronounced “BEH-sayls AWN-go-lul”
Lassabban, kérem. (More slowly, please.) – pronounced “LAWSH-shawb-bawn, KAY-rem”
Még egyszer, kérem. (Once more, please.) – pronounced “mayg EDY-ser, KAY-rem”
Notice beszél and beszélsz: the polite question uses the "he/she" form, just like Hogy van?. Hungarians are usually delighted when a foreigner tries to speak their language, so don't be shy.
Putting it all together
Here is a short polite conversation. Read it aloud a few times.
Jó napot kívánok! (Good day!)
Jó napot! Kovács Péter vagyok. (Good day! I am Péter Kovács.)
Örülök! A nevem Sarah Smith. Angol vagyok. (Nice to meet you! My name is Sarah Smith. I'm English.)
Nagyon örülök! Beszél magyarul? (Very nice to meet you! Do you speak Hungarian?)
Egy kicsit beszélek magyarul. Lassabban, kérem. (I speak a little Hungarian. More slowly, please.)
Persze. Bocsánat! (Of course. Sorry!)
Persze means "of course". It is a very common word.
Conclusion
Now you can greet people, say goodbye, thank them, ask how they are and introduce yourself, both with friends and in polite situations. Look over the Vocabulary, then try the Exercises. In Lesson 4 you will put these phrases to work in a Hungarian café.