Question for native Hungarian speakers?

Posted by Neuron_Pixel_4@reddit | askhungary | View on Reddit | 66 comments

What would surprise you to hear from someone who is learning Hungarian? Are there some Hungarian expressions that would leave you in awe to hear from a non-native speaker?

For example, if I were speaking with someone that is learning Croatian, I would be stunned to hear them use aorist tense (like “Htjedoh reći” - I wanted to say, “Zaboravih” - I forgot, etc) which is a bit archaic and would sound fancy today, or some dialectalisms (kajkavian words like “kaj” - what, “zakaj” - why, “kak” - how, “tak” - like that/that way), even some idioms (like “Rugala se sova sjenici” - used to point out an irony in a situation, “trla baba lan da joj prođe dan” - used to show that someone’s job is pointless).

There are more that would genuinly impress me, but I don’t want this to become a post about Croatian language.

What would impress you to hear from a Hungarian learner?

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Zoltan6@reddit

Pronouncing the Hungarian sounds well is quite a feat! a, gy, ü, ű, ő. The rest isn't a problem for you and you might have gy in Croatian, too.

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Soreiru@reddit

Gy, ty, probably got yea.🤔

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Senior_Strawberry_51@reddit

Pronouncing “gy”, “ty” and “a” correctly. I have honestly never heard a foreigner pronounce “a” correctly.

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Zoltan6@reddit

There is an Ukrainian youtuber girl who says it perfectly. Vlada beszél is the channel.

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Soreiru@reddit

Don't get me wrong, she is awsome But you left this reply on a very specific comment, literally highlighting the pronunciation of "a", and no, hers is not "right" either

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Senior_Strawberry_51@reddit

How come i have never heard about this girl before? She speaks almost perfect hungarian holy shit😮

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Soreiru@reddit

Honestly Budapest pronounced with the correct consonant ("sh") is already impressive enough 😂

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throwawaytypist2022@reddit

It's a shame most of the answers here are rubbish, because it's a really good question.

For me, a non-native speaker using passive voice would be quite surprising. It's very archaic now, Hungarians use active voice all the time.

For example, saying something like:

"Peter was kicked out in the last round" would literally be "Péter kiüttetetett az utolsó menetben", but this sounds very archaic and noone would ever say it like this, even though it's grammatially correct. We would say "Pétert kiütötték az utolsó menetben" which literally translates as "They kicked out Peter in the last round". In modern Hungarian, "they" acts as an unknown actor in active voice regardless of the number of agents performing the given action.

So the best way to sound oddly archaic is to use passive voice all the time.

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Neuron_Pixel_4@reddit (OP)

Thank you so much for your reply, and thank you for additional info. If anything else comes to your mind, feel free to add or just DM me, if you don’t wanna spam here.

Some people here have mentioned the lost past tense, but I didn’t know there were more suffixes (with already great number present in hungarian). I will definitely search about those stuff further.

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Ok_Common_9975@reddit

Megszentszégteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért.

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1kljasd@reddit

árvíztűrő tükörfúrógép

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chx_@reddit

Öt szép szűzlány őrült írót nyúz.

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Disastrous_Pin556@reddit

If someone uses Hungarian suffixes correctly (-val, -vel, -nak, -nek, and so on), that in itself is a success. Even from a hungarian

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iv_livs@reddit

Also, pronouncing 'gy' correctly. Never met a foreigner like that yet lol

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throwawaytypist2022@reddit

And "ű". I live in the UK, none of my English friends can pronounce it!

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No-Reaction5137@reddit

God, the number of times I have to resist the urge to correct people here... Back in my days only extremely uneducated people did not knew these rules.. Now people with college degrees fuck them up. I mean... How???

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tFemby@reddit

Akkor a kurva anyád

Bojler eladó

A rézfán fütyülőjét

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fodi666@reddit

bojler eladó on its own is not impossible. but knowing the backstory with its origin, now that would be surprising

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Like_linus85@reddit

I dont even know the backstory and Im Hungarian, I always assumed it was just something you would see in classified ads, poorly written ones

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fodi666@reddit

Kovács meghal. Az özvegye megkéri a család legjobb barátját, Szabót, hogy adjon fel egy gyászjelentést - de rövidet, nehogy sokba kerüljön. Szabó elmegy feladni az apróhirdetési rovatba, és bediktálja a szöveget:

Kovács meghalt.

Az ügyintéző csodálkozva néz rá:

Ilyen rövid lesz? Öt szóig ugyanannyiba kerül.
Jó, akkor legyen: Kovács meghalt. Ugyanitt bojler eladó.

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Like_linus85@reddit

Lol

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gydu2202@reddit

Unfortunately you won't get proper answers here.

r/hungarian is a sub for the language

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Neuron_Pixel_4@reddit (OP)

Sooo it seems like my post in r/hungarian sub has been removed :/ Here are the rules I allegedly broke: Rule #1

Not language related.

Rule #1

Your post seems to be spam.

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Neuron_Pixel_4@reddit (OP)

I didn’t think of that, thanks. Yet, there are still interesting answers, although they aren’t necessarily from language enthusiasts

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adv0catus@reddit

I'm a reader of both subs and like the answers here. Even saved the post for later when my skills are more advanced.

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gydu2202@reddit

Cheers

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Wonderful-Depth5470@reddit

I got you, I'm a native Hungarian speaker who enjoys injecting archaic expressions once in a while.

“Tűzrőlpattant menyecske” literally means something like “a young married woman who has just popped off the fire.” In actual meaning, it describes a woman who is lively, energetic, spirited, quick, capable, sharp, and full of life.
It is usually a positive or affectionate expression, often with a slightly old-fashioned, folk/traditional tone.
"Azt sem tudom, ki fia-borja", meaning “I don’t even know who she/he is.” Literally: “I don’t even know whose son-calf she/he is.
It is an idiomatic, slightly old-fashioned/folksy way to say that someone is a complete unknown to you.
My favorite which is not very archaic, but rather playful, unexpected and people love it always when I say it: “This could become a puppy or a kitten.” In actual meaning, it means: “It could still turn into anything", “This could go in many different directions.”

It is a playful, informal Hungarian expression used when something is still very uncertain or undeveloped.
Example: "What will be the result of the elections? - Well, it can be either a puppy or a kitten". "Hát, ebből még lehet kiskutya is, meg kiscica is."

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Sparhelt718@reddit

Very cutesy expressions but they are quite archaic. It's like you emerged from a folk tale. If the person's goal is to make others laugh than these are cool but these are not usable in serious conversations

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Neuron_Pixel_4@reddit (OP)

I’m really going for anything actually, be it funny or serious, I’d be happy with any expression that cannot be found in standard language textbooks

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bravo_my_life@reddit

As a native Hungarian who also loves archaic language, TIL that puppy/kitten expression. Love it though!

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Neuron_Pixel_4@reddit (OP)

Thank you, this is really something

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Naive-Passanger-9139@reddit

"Én a fideszre szavaztam." would be surprising

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Public_Chapter_8445@reddit

Swear words from foreigners usually have a comic effect. Just like referring to current memes like 'Szia uram!' (Hello Sir), 'nem mi szültük őket' (we didn't give birth to them, referring to the words of the current Minister of Interior saying the he doesn't care at all with the babies growing up in hospitals without parents).

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Informal-Boot-248@reddit

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Few_Owl_6596@reddit

Or this😀

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CommunicationDear648@reddit

The "extinct" verb tenses.

In a nutshell : there is only one past tense and one present tense, with a really easy future tense (add an extra word) and minimal "passive" in modern Hungarian. But once upon a time, there were multiple past tenses and even passive versions. For those who know: "lőn", "vala", "teendő / tétetik", etc. I'm pretty sure it's hard to speak "archaic" properly unless you're a linguist.

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Informal-Boot-248@reddit

Using slang or Hungarian abbreviations, like

- asszondjahogy (instead of "Azt mondja, hogy", meaning like "so, let's say...")

Or speaking with archaic words, like using "ö" instead of "e" in some words, like

- embör, Szögöd, mög kell tenni

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fodi666@reddit

Szögöd nincs. Pesti hülyeség. A kell viszont köll.

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ImaginationAware5761@reddit

Szöged viszont van.

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fodi666@reddit

az van. de az nem szögöd.

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Legitimate-Pay2237@reddit

és ha egy szegedi kérdi, hogy van-e szeged?

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_zso2@reddit

Az is szöged.

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Legitimate-Pay2237@reddit

van rá valami szabály, hogy a rag nem változik? vagy csak így alakult ki? esetleg vannak kivételek is?

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ImaginationAware5761@reddit

Én - egyáltalán nem szegediként - úgy tudom és tapasztaltam, hogy csak az első szótagban változik.

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Legitimate-Pay2237@reddit

na mondjuk ez is jó. ezt még nem figyeltem hosszabb szavaknál.

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_zso2@reddit

A nyílt e hang változik ö-re.

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ImaginationAware5761@reddit

Persze, hogy nem szögöd, mert Szöged egy város, szögöd meg a tulajdonodban lévő hegyes kis biszbasz :))

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Palanki96@reddit

i'm easy to impress so pronounciation

Some phonetic languages can manage but most will struggle with anything basic

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Primary-Boss3400@reddit

"adsz egy szál cigit buszjegyre kell"

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Slight_Street_9069@reddit

adsz egy jegyet, cigire kell?

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ComfortableHat4784@reddit

feat Szia Uram!

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DonkeyPlatypus@reddit

Hajdihó fasszopók!

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JigoKuu@reddit

Hungarian idioms are simply amazing and using them is so much fun! But other than my family I hardly ever hear anybody using them... 😔

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Neuron_Pixel_4@reddit (OP)

Then I will try to be the change that is lacking in this world

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CazadorXP@reddit

Kao mađaru koji govori nešto hrvatskog (iako nije savršeno), tvoja objava mi je bila baš korisna ako želim impresionirati svoje hrvatske prijatelje 😎 Hvala!

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Neuron_Pixel_4@reddit (OP)

Ooh super, baš mi je drago! Nema problema.

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Forie@reddit

Literally anything, like "köszönöm"

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Neuron_Pixel_4@reddit (OP)

Köszönöm :D

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mentholsdruid@reddit

naoszt vótál fenn szombaton?

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Mon_fire123@reddit

Learn to say "Az ukránok szekerét toljátok!". 😄

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Karabars@reddit

I would be surprised only if I wouldn't be able to tell that you aren't native

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Stavvy_@reddit

This is interesting. I live abroad, both my wife and I are Hungarian, our kids were born abroad. For us, it is surprising when our kids use really nice terms in Hungarian (like "megtekintettünk valamit" instead of "megnéztünk valamit"), and we are also a bit proud as they probably learned it from us. When they are cursing, that is of course the bad influence from the time they spend in Hungary:)) what i am trying to say is that if anybody who learns hungarian gets to this level, that is quite impressive

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Pumpkinpatch365@reddit

“a lófasznak is van vége”

this actually happened. some hungarian influencer went viral and I kept getting messages from friends telling me “even a horesdick has an end” (=there has to be a limit)

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txnxllxmxrxllx@reddit

Gyönyörű vagy means you are beautiuful, i would be really impressed since gy, ny, are really hard to pronounce for foreigners

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Guillermo1810@reddit

Haha, any funny/whimsical slang or expression. Many years ago when my partner just started learning Hungarian, there were already some expressions we used in Hungarian, just because they were fun. Just like csövesfeles/csavaros kifli (slang for those small 50 ml liquor bottles you can buy in the supermarket. Meaning "homeless' shot" or "twisty kifli"). Kispéntek (little Friday, so THURSDAY. An excuse to have a drink at night, probably comes from university student slang, as students travel home in Friday afternoon, so party night is Thursday night instead).

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ExternalInflation133@reddit

I will go with slang, the things native ppl say randomly that outsiders usually do not because they are focusing on pronouncing things well and using correct variant of the words.