In this lesson you will learn to talk about your family: who is in it, how old they are, and what they have. On the way you will meet two of the most important ideas in Hungarian. The first is that "my", "your" and "his" are not separate words but endings on the noun. The second is that Hungarian has no everyday verb for "to have". Instead it says something like "to me there is my dog".
That sounds strange at first, but it is very regular, and once you have it you will use it in almost every conversation.
My mother, my house: the possessive endings
In English, "my" is a word that goes in front of the noun. In Hungarian, "my" is an ending that goes on the back of it. The ending for "my" is -m:
autó (car) – pronounced “AW-u-toh”
az autóm (my car) – pronounced “AWZ AW-u-tohm”
kávé (coffee) – pronounced “KAA-vay”
a kávém (my coffee) – pronounced “AW KAA-vaym”
Notice the a or az in front. Hungarian normally puts "the" in front of a possessed noun, so az autóm is literally "the my-car". You don't translate it, but you do need to say it. Leave it out only in a few places you will meet below.
If the word ends in a or e, that vowel becomes long before the ending: a becomes á and e becomes é. You already know this change from the plural and the accusative:
anya → anyám (mother → my mother) – pronounced “AW-nyaam”
apa → apám (father → my father) – pronounced “AW-paam”
kutya → a kutyám (dog → my dog) – pronounced “KU-tyaam”
nagymama → a nagymamám (grandmother → my grandmother)
If the word ends in a consonant, Hungarian adds a linking vowel first, so that the word stays easy to say. Here is a handy rule: use the same linking vowel as in the plural. If the plural is házak, then "my house" is házam. If the plural is lányok, then "my daughter" is lányom.
| Word | Plural | My ... |
|---|---|---|
| ház (house) | házak | a házam |
| lány (daughter, girl) | lányok | a lányom |
| barát (friend) | barátok | a barátom |
| testvér (brother or sister) | testvérek | a testvérem |
| gyerek (child) | gyerekek | a gyerekem |
| feleség (wife) | feleségek | a feleségem |
| főnök (boss) | főnökök | a főnököm |
Ez az anyám. (This is my mother.)
Ő a feleségem, Kati. (This is my wife, Kati.) Literally "she is my wife".
Ez a házam. (This is my house.)
A barátom Szegeden lakik. (My friend lives in Szeged.)
All the persons
Of course there is a different ending for each person: "my", "your", "his or her", "our", "your" (plural) and "their". Here they are on a back-vowel word, a front-vowel word, a front rounded word and a word ending in a vowel. Vowel harmony works here exactly as it does everywhere else.
| ház (house) | testvér (sibling) | főnök (boss) | autó (car) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| my | házam | testvérem | főnököm | autóm |
| your | házad | testvéred | főnököd | autód |
| his, her | háza | testvére | főnöke | autója |
| our | házunk | testvérünk | főnökünk | autónk |
| your (plural) | házatok | testvéretek | főnökötök | autótok |
| their | házuk | testvérük | főnökük | autójuk |
The endings are -m, -d, -a/-e, -nk, -tok/-tek/-tök and -uk/-ük. Since there is no gender in Hungarian, a háza means "his house" or "her house". The sentence around it tells you which.
His or her: -a or -ja?
The "his, her" ending is the only tricky one. After a vowel it is always -ja or -je: autója (his car), kávéja (her coffee). After a consonant it is sometimes -a/-e and sometimes -ja/-je, and there is no rule that always works:
a háza (his / her house)
a lánya (his / her daughter)
a testvére (his / her brother or sister)
a barátja (his / her friend)
a kertje (his / her garden)
Don't worry about this too much. People will understand you either way, and you will pick up the right form as you hear each word. One thing does help: after s, sz, z, zs, cs, c, gy, ny, ty and j it is almost always the short form without j. Whatever the "his" form is, the "their" form follows it: háza and házuk, but kertje and kertjük.
Peter's car
The "his, her" ending is also how you say "Peter's car" or "Anna's husband". Put the owner first, with no ending, and the thing owned second, with the "his, her" ending:
Péter autója (Peter's car) Literally "Peter his-car".
Anna férje (Anna's husband)
Kati lánya (Kati's daughter)
Ez Péter autója. (This is Peter's car.)
There is more to say about this, and Lesson 19 says it. For now, this simple pattern is all you need.
The family
Here are the most important family words, all with "my". Hungarian has separate words for older and younger brothers and sisters, which English doesn't:
az anyám, az anyukám (my mother, my mum)
az apám, az apukám (my father, my dad)
a bátyám (my older brother)
az öcsém (my younger brother)
a nővérem (my older sister)
a húgom (my younger sister)
a testvérem (my brother or sister)
a férjem (my husband)
a feleségem (my wife)
a fiam (my son)
a lányom (my daughter)
a gyerekem (my child)
a nagymamám (my grandmother)
a nagypapám (my grandfather)
Anyuka and apuka (or the shorter anyu and apu) are the warm, everyday words, like "mum" and "dad". Adults use them all the time when they talk about their parents. Anyám and apám are correct too, but they sound a little cooler.
Two family words that bend
Fiú (boy, son) is irregular: "my son" is a fiam, "your son" is a fiad, "his son" is a fia. And öcs (younger brother) is almost always heard with an ending: az öcsém (my younger brother), az öccse (his younger brother). Just learn these as you see them here. Lesson 19 has the whole list.
Barát and barátnő
A barátom can mean "my friend" or "my boyfriend", and a barátnőm can mean "my (female) friend" or "my girlfriend". The situation usually makes it clear. If someone asks Van barátnőd?, they are probably asking whether you have a girlfriend.
"I have": van and nekem
Now for the second big idea. Hungarian has no everyday verb "to have". To say "I have a dog", you say "there is my dog", using van (there is) and the possessive ending:
Van egy kutyám. (I have a dog.) Literally "there is a my-dog".
Van egy bátyám. (I have an older brother.)
Van autód? (Do you have a car?)
Van egy kis házunk. (We have a small house.)
The ending already tells you who the owner is: -m means "I", -d means "you", and so on. This is just like the verb, where tanulok already means "I study" without én.
In this construction there is no a or az in front of the noun. Use egy, a number, or nothing at all:
Van egy húgom. (I have a younger sister.)
Van két gyerekem. (I have two children.) After a number the noun stays singular, as always.
Van testvéred? (Do you have any brothers or sisters?)
Igen, van. (Yes, I do.) The short answer is just "van".
Not having: nincs
For "I don't have", use nincs instead of van, just as in Lesson 5:
Nincs autóm. (I don't have a car.)
Nincs testvérem. (I don't have any brothers or sisters.)
Nincs időm. (I don't have time.) idő = time
Nincs pénzem. (I don't have any money.)
Van kutyád? Nincs. (Do you have a dog? No, I don't.)
Nekem, neked, neki
Sometimes you want to say who the owner is with a separate word, to make it clear or to contrast two people. For this, Hungarian puts the owner in the -nak/-nek form, which means roughly "to, for". With pronouns it looks like this:
| Pronoun | To me, to you ... | Example |
|---|---|---|
| én | nekem | Nekem van egy kutyám. |
| te | neked | Neked van autód? |
| ő | neki | Neki nincs testvére. |
| mi | nekünk | Nekünk van egy kis házunk. |
| ti | nektek | Nektek van kutyátok? |
| ők | nekik | Nekik két gyerekük van. |
| Ön | Önnek | Önnek van gyereke? |
Notice that the ending on the noun still has to match: nekem goes with -m, neked with -d, neki with -a/-e. And the formal Ön uses the "his, her" ending, because Ön always takes third person forms: Önnek van gyereke? (Do you have children?).
Most of the time you will leave the pronoun out, just as you leave out én. Use it when you are comparing:
Nekem van kutyám, de neki nincs. (I have a dog, but he doesn't.)
Neked van időd? Nekem nincs. (Do you have time? I don't.)
With names and nouns
With a name or a noun, add -nak or -nek to the owner, following vowel harmony. The thing owned takes the "his, her" ending:
Péternek van egy autója. (Peter has a car.)
Annának két gyereke van. (Anna has two children.) Anna + -nak: the a becomes long.
A nagymamámnak van egy macskája. (My grandmother has a cat.)
Katinak nincs testvére. (Kati doesn't have any brothers or sisters.)
Word order
Both Péternek van egy autója and Péternek egy autója van are correct. The word just before van gets a little extra weight, so Annának két gyereke van stresses "two". Don't worry about this yet. Lesson 22 is all about word order.
How old are you?
For age, Hungarian uses the word éves, "years old", which comes from év (year). You simply say the number with éves and the verb "to be":
Hány éves vagy? (How old are you?)
Hány éves? (How old are you? (formal)) To someone you call Ön.
Húszéves vagyok. (I am twenty.)
A fiam hétéves. (My son is seven.)
A nagymamám nyolcvanéves. (My grandmother is eighty.)
Hány éves a lányod? (How old is your daughter?)
Hároméves. (She is three.)
When the number is a simple word, it is written together with éves: kétéves, tízéves, negyvenéves. With longer numbers, people usually write the number in figures: 25 éves vagyok. Either way, you say it the same.
Notice that there is no verb in A fiam hétéves. As you know from Lesson 5, Hungarian leaves out van when it would mean "he is" or "she is" before an adjective or a noun.
Putting it together
Here is how a Hungarian might describe their family. Read it out loud:
A nevem Nagy Péter. (My name is Péter Nagy.) Family name first, as always in Hungarian.
Harmincéves vagyok. (I am thirty.)
A feleségem neve Kati. (My wife's name is Kati.)
Van két gyerekünk: egy fiunk és egy lányunk. (We have two children: a son and a daughter.)
A fiunk hétéves, a lányunk ötéves. (Our son is seven, our daughter is five.)
Van egy kutyánk is. (We also have a dog.)
Az anyukám és az apukám Debrecenben laknak. (My mum and dad live in Debrecen.)
Two small things to notice. A feleségem neve means "my wife's name": név (name) shortens to neve, just as "my name" is a nevem. And fiunk (our son) is the irregular fiú again.
Conclusion
You can now name the people in your family, say what you have and don't have, and give anyone's age. The possessive endings will come back again and again, so it is worth learning the table well. Learn the words on the Vocabulary tab, and then try the Exercises. There is also a full list of family words on the Family page. In the next lesson you will meet the definite conjugation, which explains why Hungarians say köszönöm and not köszönök.