Hungary has a long café tradition. In the old days, the grand coffee houses of Budapest were where writers, journalists and artists met, and some of them are still open today. Now you will find a kávézó (café) on almost every street, and a cukrászda (pastry shop) selling wonderful cakes in every town. In this lesson you will learn how to order, what the most common words on a menu mean, and how to pay. You will use the numbers from Lesson 2 and the polite phrases from Lesson 3 all the time.
You will also meet your first grammar ending. Don't worry: you only need one small idea from it today.
kávézó (café) – pronounced “KAA-vay-zoh”
cukrászda (pastry shop, cake shop) – pronounced “TSUK-raas-daw”
Drinks
Here are the drinks you are most likely to want. Some of them you could already read in Lesson 1:
kávé (coffee) – pronounced “KAA-vay”
tejeskávé (milky coffee) – pronounced “TEH-yesh-kaa-vay” From tej (milk) and kávé.
tea (tea) – pronounced “TEH-aw”
víz (water) – pronounced “veez”
ásványvíz (mineral water) – pronounced “AASH-vaany-veez”
narancslé (orange juice) – pronounced “NAW-rawnch-lay”
tej (milk) – pronounced “tey”
kakaó (cocoa, hot chocolate) – pronounced “KAW-kaw-oh”
sör (beer) – pronounced “shör”
bor (wine) – pronounced “bor”
In Hungary, kávé on its own usually means a small, strong espresso. If you want something bigger and milder, ask for a tejeskávé or a hosszú kávé ("long coffee", an espresso with extra water). A drink comes in a csésze (cup) or a pohár (glass).
hosszú kávé (long coffee) – pronounced “HOS-soo KAA-vay”
csésze (cup) – pronounced “CHAY-seh”
pohár (glass) – pronounced “PO-haar”
Food
Most cafés sell cakes, pastries and simple snacks. You will see these words on almost every menu:
sütemény (cake, pastry) – pronounced “SHÜ-teh-mayny”
torta (gateau, layered cake) – pronounced “TOR-taw”
pogácsa (savoury scone) – pronounced “PO-gaa-chaw” Small savoury scones, often with cheese. Very popular.
kifli (crescent roll) – pronounced “KIF-li”
zsemle (bread roll) – pronounced “ZHEM-leh”
szendvics (sandwich) – pronounced “SEND-vich”
leves (soup) – pronounced “LEH-vesh”
saláta (salad) – pronounced “SHAW-laa-taw”
fagylalt (ice cream) – pronounced “FAWDY-lawlt”
The menu itself is the étlap, and the drinks menu is the itallap.
étlap (menu) – pronounced “AYT-lawp”
itallap (drinks menu) – pronounced “I-tawl-lawp”
Fagylalt and fagyi
In summer, every Hungarian town seems to sell ice cream. The full word is fagylalt, but almost everyone says fagyi. You buy it by the gombóc (scoop). Two other names you will see in a cake shop are Dobos torta, a famous layered cake with a hard caramel top, and Rigó Jancsi, a chocolate cream cake named after a musician.
A, az and egy
Unlike some languages, Hungarian has words for "the" and "a", just like English.
- "The" is a before a consonant and az before a vowel. This works just like English "a" and "an".
- "A" or "an" is egy, which is also the number one.
a kávé (the coffee) – pronounced “aw KAA-vay”
a tea (the tea) – pronounced “aw TEH-aw”
az ásványvíz (the mineral water) – pronounced “awz AASH-vaany-veez”
az étlap (the menu) – pronounced “awz AYT-lawp”
egy kávé (a coffee, one coffee) – pronounced “edy KAA-vay”
egy pohár víz (a glass of water) – pronounced “edy PO-haar veez”
Be careful not to mix up the Hungarian word a (the) with English "a". When a Hungarian says a kávé, it means "the coffee".
Look at egy pohár víz. English needs the word "of" in "a glass of water", but Hungarian doesn't. You just put the two words side by side: egy csésze tea (a cup of tea), két pohár bor (two glasses of wine). And remember from Lesson 2: after a number, the noun stays singular.
Ordering: kérek
The easiest way to order is with the word kérek, which means "I ask for" or "I'd like". You can say it at the start or at the end of your order:
Kérek egy kávét. (I'd like a coffee.) – pronounced “KAY-rek edy KAA-vayt”
Egy kávét kérek. (A coffee, please. (I'd like a coffee.)) – pronounced “edy KAA-vayt KAY-rek”
Kérek egy teát. (I'd like a tea.) – pronounced “KAY-rek edy TEH-aat”
Két sört kérek. (Two beers, please.) – pronounced “kayt shört KAY-rek”
Did you notice something? Kávé became kávét, tea became teát, and sör became sört. This little -t is the first ending you need to learn.
The -t ending: a first look
In English, word order shows you who does what. In "Anna sees Péter", Anna does the seeing, and Péter is the one being seen, the object. Hungarian marks the object with an ending instead: -t. A form of a word with an ending like this is called a case, and this one is called the accusative case. English has a tiny bit of this too: "he" becomes "him" in "I see him".
When you order something, the thing you ask for is the object of kérek, so it takes -t. Here is how it works:
- Most words that end in a vowel just add -t: kávé → kávét, kakaó → kakaót, kifli → kiflit.
- If the word ends in a or e, the vowel becomes long: tea → teát, torta → tortát, zsemle → zsemlét.
- Some words that end in a consonant just add -t: sör → sört, bor → bort, leves → levest.
- Others need an extra vowel before the -t: tej → tejet, szendvics → szendvicset, fagylalt → fagylaltot.
- And a few change inside the word: víz → vizet, narancslé → narancslevet.
There are rules for all of this, which you will learn in Lesson 7. For now, just learn each menu word as a pair. Here they are:
| The word | Ordering it | English |
|---|---|---|
| kávé | Kérek egy kávét. | coffee |
| tejeskávé | Kérek egy tejeskávét. | milky coffee |
| tea | Kérek egy teát. | tea |
| víz | Kérek egy vizet. | water |
| ásványvíz | Kérek egy ásványvizet. | mineral water |
| narancslé | Kérek egy narancslevet. | orange juice |
| tej | Kérek egy tejet. | milk |
| kakaó | Kérek egy kakaót. | cocoa, hot chocolate |
| sör | Kérek egy sört. | beer |
| bor | Kérek egy bort. | wine |
| sütemény | Kérek egy süteményt. | cake, pastry |
| torta | Kérek egy tortát. | gateau, layered cake |
| pogácsa | Kérek egy pogácsát. | savoury scone |
| kifli | Kérek egy kiflit. | crescent roll |
| zsemle | Kérek egy zsemlét. | bread roll |
| szendvics | Kérek egy szendvicset. | sandwich |
| leves | Kérek egy levest. | soup |
| saláta | Kérek egy salátát. | salad |
| fagylalt | Kérek egy fagylaltot. | ice cream |
Notice víz (water), which changes to vizet, with a short i. It is a very common word, so it is worth learning by heart. And notice that in egy pohár vizet, only the last word takes the ending:
Kérek egy pohár vizet. (I'd like a glass of water.) – pronounced “KAY-rek edy PO-haar VI-zet”
Kérek egy csésze teát. (I'd like a cup of tea.) – pronounced “KAY-rek edy CHAY-seh TEH-aat”
Két pohár bort kérek. (Two glasses of wine, please.) – pronounced “kayt PO-haar bort KAY-rek”
With milk, without sugar
You can ask for your coffee with milk or without sugar. Just learn these as set phrases for now:
tejjel (with milk) – pronounced “TEY-yel”
cukorral (with sugar) – pronounced “TSU-kor-rawl”
cukor nélkül (without sugar) – pronounced “TSU-kor NAYL-kül”
Egy kávét kérek, tejjel. (A coffee with milk, please.) – pronounced “edy KAA-vayt KAY-rek, TEY-yel”
Egy teát kérek, cukor nélkül. (A tea without sugar, please.) – pronounced “edy TEH-aat KAY-rek, TSU-kor NAYL-kül”
What the staff will say
Here are the questions you are most likely to hear across the counter. Notice that the staff will use the polite Ön forms with you, so the verbs look like the "he/she" forms:
Mit kér? (What would you like?) – pronounced “mit kayr”
Tessék! (Yes, please? / Here you are!) – pronounced “TESH-shayk”
Még valamit? (Anything else?) – pronounced “mayg VAW-law-mit”
Helyben vagy elvitelre? (For here or to take away?) – pronounced “HEY-ben vawdy EL-vi-tel-reh”
And some useful answers:
Köszönöm, mást nem. (Nothing else, thank you.) – pronounced “KÖ-sö-nöm, maasht nem”
Ez minden. (That's all.) – pronounced “ez MIN-den”
Helyben. (For here.) – pronounced “HEY-ben”
Elvitelre. (To take away.) – pronounced “EL-vi-tel-reh”
Vagy means "or". You met it in a different meaning in Lesson 3, in Hogy vagy? Hungarian has quite a few words like this, but the context always makes it clear.
In a restaurant or a café with table service, call the waiter (pincér) with Elnézést!, which you learnt in Lesson 3.
pincér (waiter) – pronounced “PIN-tsayr”
Paying
When you are ready to pay, say Fizetni szeretnék, "I would like to pay". This is the most common way to ask for the bill (számla). You can also say A számlát kérem, "The bill, please". Just learn these as set phrases for now. You will learn why it is kérem here and not kérek in Lesson 10.
Fizetni szeretnék. (I'd like to pay.) – pronounced “FI-zet-ni SEH-ret-nayk”
A számlát kérem. (The bill, please.) – pronounced “aw SAAM-laat KAY-rem”
Mennyibe kerül? (How much is it?) – pronounced “MEN-nyi-beh KEH-rül”
Összesen kétezer-négyszáz forint. (2400 forints altogether.) – pronounced “ÖS-seh-shen KAYT-eh-zer-naydy-saaz FO-rint”
Kártyával vagy készpénzzel? (By card or in cash?) – pronounced “KAAR-tyaa-vawl vawdy KAYS-paynz-zel”
Kártyával. (By card.) – pronounced “KAAR-tyaa-vawl”
Készpénzzel. (In cash.) – pronounced “KAYS-paynz-zel”
Összesen means "altogether" or "in total". Almost everywhere in Hungary takes cards, but small places in the countryside may only take cash.
Tipping
In Hungary it is usual to leave a tip of about ten per cent in restaurants and cafés with table service. The tip is called borravaló, literally "something for wine". Check the bill first: some restaurants already add a service charge. Hungarians usually tell the waiter how much to take as they pay, instead of leaving money on the table.
At the table
Two more phrases you will hear at every meal. Jó étvágyat! means "good appetite". Egészségedre! means "to your health", and Hungarians say it when they raise a glass, and also when someone sneezes. To several friends, or politely, it changes:
Jó étvágyat! (Enjoy your meal!) – pronounced “yoh AYT-vaa-dyawt”
Egészségedre! (Cheers! / Bless you! (to a friend)) – pronounced “EH-gays-shay-ged-reh”
Egészségetekre! (Cheers! (to several friends)) – pronounced “EH-gays-shay-geh-tek-reh”
Egészségére! (Cheers! / Bless you! (polite)) – pronounced “EH-gays-shay-gay-reh”
Nagyon finom! (Very tasty!) – pronounced “NAW-dyon FI-nom”
The word egészség means "health". It looks long, but say it slowly: egész + ség, "EH-gays-shayg".
egészség (health) – pronounced “EH-gays-shayg”
Putting it all together
Here is a whole conversation in a café. Read it aloud a few times.
Jó napot kívánok! Tessék! (Good day! Yes, please?)
Jó napot! Két kávét kérek és egy pogácsát. (Good day! Two coffees and a savoury scone, please.)
Még valamit? (Anything else?)
Egy pohár vizet, legyen szíves. (A glass of water, please.)
Helyben vagy elvitelre? (For here or to take away?)
Helyben, köszönöm. (For here, thank you.)
Összesen ezerkilencszáz forint. Kártyával vagy készpénzzel? (1900 forints altogether. By card or in cash?)
Kártyával. Köszönöm! (By card. Thank you!)
Én köszönöm! Viszontlátásra! (Thank you! Goodbye!)
Én köszönöm literally means "I thank you". Hungarians say it when you thank them, in the way English speakers say "No, thank you".
Conclusion
Now you can order food and drink, ask for the bill and pay. You know when to say a, az and egy, and you have seen the -t ending for the first time, on the things you order. Look over the Vocabulary, which lists each menu word with its -t form, then try the Exercises. In Lesson 5 you will learn how Hungarian verbs work. For more food words, see the food vocabulary page.