Reported Speech

Reported speech means that you report something you heard from someone in a story-telling way. Direct speech, however, requires the speaker to quote exactly what one heard.

Examples:

DIRECT SPEECH
The Terminator said “I’ll be back“.
A Terminátor azt mondta, “Visszatérek“.

REPORTED SPEECH
The Terminator said he would be back.
A Terminátor azt mondta, hogy visszatér.

The English sentence changed its tense (will > would), but the Hungarian didn’t. This phenomenon, which doesn’t exist in Hungarian is called: SEQUENCE OF TENSES. It doesn’t exist in Hungarian because you need to have more past tenses so that you can actually apply a sequence for tenses. But Hungarian only has one past tense, so there’s nothing for the past verb in the main clause to agree with in the subordinate clause. As you see above, Hungarian used Present Tense in both sentences.

Take a look at this:

He says he is watching TV. – Azt mondja, hogy tévét néz.
He said he was watching TV. – Azt mondta, hogy tévét néz.

In the second sentence the English ‘he was watching’ refers to present tense, but it is expressed with the past tense due to the sequence of tenses. Hungarian just uses Present Tense again even if the main clause has a past tense verb. However, the second English sentence can also mean that ‘he was watching’ in the past. Look:

-What is he doing now? -He said he was watching TV.
‘was watching’ refers to present tense!

-What was he doing yesterday? -He said he was watching TV.
‘was watching’ refers to past tense!!

And then the Hungarian sentence looks like this:
Azt mondta, hogy tévét nézett.

Basically, sequence of tenses means that if the verb of the main clause is in past tense, then the verb of the subordinate clause must be in past tense, as well.

However, other elements change, too: pronouns, adverbs of place, adverbs of time. And these parts of speech also change in Hungarian.

now > then
most > akkor

today > that day
ma > aznap

tomorrow > the next day
holnap > a következő nap

the day after tomorrow > in two days
holnap > két nap múlva

yesterday > the day before
tegnap > az előző nap

the day before yesterday > two days ago
tegnapelőtt > két nappal ezelőtt

two weeks ago > two weeks before
két hete > két héttel azelőtt

last year > in the previous year
tavaly > az előző évben

next year > in the following year
jövőre > a következő évben

recently > shortly before
nemrégen > röviddel azelőtt

soon > soon after
nemsokára > nemsokára !!!

this, these > that, those
ez, ezek > az, azok

here > there
itt > ott

I think it’s enough for today. Next time we’ll see more examples and we’ll talk about reported question.

Were it not for…

This construction is expressed in Hungarian like this:

Were it nor for… = Ha nem + present/past conditional

Examples:

Were it nor for my friend, I wouldn’t pay the fine.
Ha nem a barátomról lenne szó, nem fizetném ki a bírságot.

Were it not for Peter, they wouldn’t care about it.
Ha nem Péterről volna szó, nem érdekelné őket.

Were it not for an old friend of mine, I wouldn’t have taken such a long journey.
Ha nem egy régi barátról lett volna szó, nem tettem volna meg ekkora utat.

An expression appears in such sentences many times:

szó van valamiről / valakiről = it’s about something / someone

The preposition about is equal to these suffixes: -ról, -ről (according to vowel harmony).

Were it not for you… – Ha nem rólad lenne szó…
Were it not for Peter… – Ha nem Péterről lenne szó…

So the literal translation from Hungarian would be: If it weren’t about you…

APART FROM THE TOPIC ABOVE…

English allows the speaker to put the main and subordinate clauses in different conditions. So does Hungarian.

If you hadn’t offended her, she would help us now.
Ha nem sértetted volna meg, most segítene nekünk.

English has this solution, too: Hadn’t you offended her…However, Hungarian must always say: HA!

So much for if-clauses and conditional mood.

If-Clauses

If-clauses are sentences like:

Condition 0: If you come with me, I am happy.
Condition 1: If you come with me, I will be happy.
Condition 2: If you came with me, I would be happy.
Condition 3: If you had come with me, I would have been happy.

Such sentences can be real (condition 1), possible (condition 2), impossible (condition 3). And English makes a difference between Condition 0 and Condition 1. Hungarian doesn’t. Let’s see what the Hungarian translation of those sentences look like! The Hungarian equivalent of the IF conjunction is HA.

Cond 0: Ha velem jössz, boldog vagyok/leszek.
Cond 1: Ha velem jössz, boldog vagyok/leszek.
Cond 2: Ha velem jönnél, boldog lennék.
Cond 3: Ha velem jöttél volna, boldog lettem volna.

Furthermore, we should talk about tenses and moods. English uses Past Simple or Past Perfect after the if conjunction (subordinate clause), and Present Conditional or Past Conditional in the main clause. Let’s see a summary for Hungarian use!

Condition 1
> Hungarian uses Present Tense for both main and subordinate clauses.

Condition 2
> Hungarian uses Present Conditional for both main and subordinate clauses.

Condition 3
> Hungarian uses Past Conditional for both main and subordinate clauses.

In Hungarian you can also use Future Tense in the main clause for Condition 1. That’s why there is no distinction between Cond. 0 and Cond 1.

More examples:

CONDITION 0 AND 1
Ha szeretsz, elmondod.
If you love me, you tell me.

Ha nem tanulnak, megbuknak.
If they don’t learn, they‘ll fail.

CONDITION 2
Ha szeretnél, elmondanád.
If you loved me, you would tell me.

Ha nem tanulnának, megbuknának.
If they didn’t learn, they‘d fail.

CONDITION 3
Ha szerettél volna, elmondtad volna.
If you had loved me, you would have told me.

Ha nem tanultak volna, megbuktak volna.
If they hadn’t learned, they would have failed.

NOTE! Both versions of the substantive verb can be used in conditional clauses. Examples:

Ha gazdag lennék, Ferrarit vennék.
Ha gazdag volnék, Ferrarit vennék.
If I were rich, I would buy a Ferrari.

Use whichever you want.

And finally, note that there is always a comma between the main and subordinate clause even if  the sentence begins with the main clause.

Ha nem kelsz fel, elkésel. / Elkésel, ha nem kelsz fel.
If you don’t get up, you’ll be late. / You’ll be late if you don’t get up.

Next time we’ll learn how to say “Were it not for…” in Hungarian. Bye now! 🙂

Irregular Verbs in Conditional

The fun with the conditional mood is that even irregular verbs are not that irregular. But I think we should go through them nonetheless.

LENNI = TO BE
lesz: lennék, lennél, lenne, lennénk, lennétek, lennének
van: volnék, volnál, volna, volnánk, volnátok, volnának

MENNI, JÖNNI = TO GO, TO COME
megy: mennék, mennél, menne, mennénk, mennétek, mennének
jön: jönnék,  jönnél, jönne, jönnénk, jönnétek, jönnének

ENNI = TO EAT
Indef.: ennék, ennél, enne, ennénk, ennétek, ennének
Def.: enném, ennéd, enné, ennénk, ennétek, ennék

INNI = TO DRINK
Indef.: innék, innál, inna, innánk, innátok, innának
Def.: innám, innád, inná, innánk, innátok, innák

TENNI = TO DO,  TO PUT
Indef.: tennék, tennél, tenne, tennénk, tennétek, tennének
Def.: tenném, tennéd, tenné, tennénk, tennétek, tennék

VENNI = TO TAKE, TO BUY
Indef.: vennék, vennél, venne, vennénk, vennétek, vennének
Def.: venném, vennéd, venné, vennénk, vennétek, vennék

VINNI = TO BRING
Indef.: vinnék, vinnél, vinne, vinnénk, vinnétek, vinnének
Def.: vinném, vinnéd, vinné, vinnénk, vinnétek, vinnék

HINNI = TO BELIEVE
Indef.: hinnék, hinnél, hinne, hinnénk, hinnétek, hinnének
Def.: hinném, hinnéd, hinné, hinnénk, hinnétek, hinnék

The rest of the verbs we called irregular are actually regular. And as you see the verbs above, they are not that irregular, either. I just write the conjugation for nő and alszik because then you know sző, lő, ró, fekszik, nyugszik.

NŐNI = TO GROW
Indef: nőnék, nőnél, nőne, nőnénk, nőnétek, nőnének
Def: nőnék, nőnéd, nőné, nőnénk, nőnétek, nőnék

Nőni can be definite when a phrasal verb: kinőni

ALUDNI = TO SLEEP
Indef: aludnék, aludnál, aludna, aludnánk, aludnátok, aludnának
Def: aludnám, aludnád, aludná, aludnánk, aludnátok, aludnák

Aludni can be definite when a phrasal verb: kialudni

So much for irregular verbs. As I said, conditional mood is the easiest! Bye now. 🙂

Past Conditional

We will proceed like this: we discuss past conditional in this entry. In the next entry I’ll write is about irregular verbs and then if-clauses.

P A S T   C O N D I T I O N A L

Past conditional expresses a condition in the past :). The Hungarian past conditional is easy to form if you know how to form the indicative past tense.

All you need to do is to conjugate the verb in past tense and put the auxiliary verb VOLNA after it. ‘Volna’ is the 3rd PS conditional form of the substantive verb.

néztem + volna = I would have watched

Two examples for high and deep verbs:

NÉZ – TO WATCH
Indefinite / Definite:
néztem / néztem volna
néztél / nézted volna
nézett / nézte volna
néztünk / néztük volna
néztetek / néztétek volna
néztek / nézték volna

RAK = TO PUT
Indefinite / Definite:
raktam / raktam volna
raktál / raktad volna
rakott / rakta volna
raktunk / raktuk volna
raktatok / raktátok volna
raktak / rakták volna

The auxiliary verb volna and the main verb CANNOT BE SEPARATED!

I would have seen the movie.
Láttam volna a filmet. > CORRECT
Láttam a filmet volna. > INCORRECT

H O W   W O U L D   I   H A V E   B E E N?

It is an important question because there is no compound tense in Hungarian! English has compound tense: I have seen, I had seen…

The conjugation for VAN/LESZ is the same and that’s how you form the conditional past for them:

lettem volna – I would have been
lettél volna – you would have been
lett volna – he/she/it would have been
lettünk volna – we would have been
lettetek volna – you would have been
lettek volna – they would have been

So it’s just the past tense of lesz + volna!

Next time irregular verbs. Bye! 🙂

Vocabulary – Polite Expressions and Wishes in Conditional

P O L I T E   E X P R E S S I O N S

–Szeretnél inni valamit? -Köszönöm, szeretnék.
–Would you like to have a drink? – Thank you, I would.

Szeretném megkérdezni, hogy…
I’d like to ask if… / Can I ask if…

Elnézést, meg tudná mondani…
Excuse me, could you tell me…

Elnézést, meg tudná mondani, mennyi az idő?
Excuse me, could you tell me the time?

Elnézést, meg tudná mondani, hol van az állomás?
Excuse me, could you tell me where the station is?

Lennél / Volnál szíves eloltani a cigarettát?
Would you be so kind as to put out the cigarette?

Lenne / Volna szíves eloltani a cigarettát? (polite form)
Would you be so kind as to put out the cigarette?

And we should talk about this, too:

–Nem bánná, ha rágyújtanék? -Nem.
–Would you mind my smoking? -No, I wouldn’t.

In this case there’s no problem with ‘mind’. However, Hungarian does not always translate it with the equivalent verb: bán. Sometimes we just put the verb in conditional mood, while English uses ‘mind’.

–Becsuknád az ablakot? –Igen, be.
–Would you mind closing the window? –No, I wouldn’t.

As you see, the Hungarian answer is YES, while the English one is NO because Hungarian just asks:

–Would you close the window? –Yes, I would.

W I S H E S

English: If only / I wish + past simple or perfect
Hungarian: Ha / Bárcsak + present or past conditional

I wish he came at last. – Bárcsak jönne már!
I wish he had come. – Bárcsak eljött volna!

If only I understood what she’s saying in Hungarian.
Ha érteném, mit mond magyarul! OR
Bárcsak érteném, mit mond magyarul!

Vocabulary – Welcome

Welcome is a word Hungarian expresses in several ways.

If someone arrives:
Welcome! – Isten hozott! / Üdvözöllek! (informal)
Welcome! – Isten hozta! / Üdvözlöm! (formal polite)

You’re always welcome in my house.
Mindig szívesen látlak a házamban.

To be welcome – Szívesen lát valakit (= to see someone with pleasure)

If you answer to someone saying thank you:
-Thank you for helping me. –You’re welcome.
-Köszönöm, hogy segítettél. –Szívesen! / Nincs mit!

Vocabulary – Tessék!

It is a general and versatile exclamation. It comes from the verb tetszik. Actually, it is the imperative 3rd PS indefinite form of tetszik. Its meanings can be:

If someone is knocking at the door:
Come in! – Tessék!

If you give somebody a gentle order:
Please sit down. – Tessék csak leülni!

-May I come in? -Bejöhetek?
–Please. – Tessék!

If you didn’t understand something:
I beg your pardon? – Tessék?
> In this case it is a question.

When sitting at the table:
Help yourself. – Tessék!

Vocabulary – To like

T O   L I K E

This is a simple English verb, but Hungarian expresses it with three different verbs.

TO LIKE SOMEBODY, SOMETHING:
I like that girl.
She likes horror movies.

You can say these verbs in Hungarian like this: tetszik, kedvel

I like that girl.
Kedvelem azt a lányt. OR
Tetszik (nekem) az a lány.

She likes horror movies.
Kedveli a horrorfilmeket.
Tetszenek neki a horrorfilmek.

The formula is:

Kedvel + accusative case
Kedveli azt a filmet. – She likes that movie.
> The accusative case causes kedvel to be in definite conjugation!

Tetszik + dative pronouns + subjective case
Tetszik neki az a film. – She likes that movie.
> The subjective case causes tetszik to be simply in indefinite conjugation!
> And if there are more objects you like, tetszik is put in 3rd PP!
Tetszenek neki azok a filmek. – She likes those movies.

TO LIKE FOODS, DRINKS:
I like sushi.
I like red wine.

You can say these verbs in Hungarian like this: ízlik, szeret

I like sushi.
Szeretem a szusit.
Ízlik (nekem) a szusi.

I like red wine.
Szeretem a vörös bort.
Ízlik (nekem) a vörös bor.

The formula is:

Szeret + accusative case
Szeretem a bort. – I like wine.
> The accusative case causes szeret to be in definite conjugation!

Ízlik + dative pronouns + subjective case
Ízlik nekem a bor. – I like wine.
> The subjective case causes ízlik to be in indefinite conjugation!
> If there are more food, drink you like, ízlik is put in 3rd PP!
Ízlenek nekem a borok. – I like wines.

Summary:

To like people and objects: kedvel, tetszik

To like food, drink: szeret, ízlik

– kedvel / tetszik in definite conjugation 3rd PS + requires accusative case

– tetszik / ízlik in indefinite conjugation 3rd PS or 3rd PP + subjective case
> and the dative pronoun is not mandatory.

You should avoid saying ‘szeret’ if you talk about a person. In this case szeret means: to love

Szeretem azt a lányt. – I love that girl.

Vocabulary – Would like

Would like is said in Hungarian by putting the verb szeret in conditional mood.

Would you like to go shopping?
Szeretnél vásárolni menni?

I’d like to talk to you.
Szeretnék beszélni veled.

She’d like to make a lot of money.
Szeretne sok pénzt keresni.

If you would like someone else to do something than you say in English:

I’d like her to come with me.

In Hungarian you use conditional mood for both verbs as if you said:

I’d like if she came with me.
Szeretném, ha velem jönne.

This sentence is an if-clause which is our next topic.

As for ‘to want’, Hungarian uses szeret in conditional mood when it comes to sentences like:

I want you to know I told the truth.
Szeretném, ha tudnád, hogy az igazat mondtam.

Literally: I would want if you knew I told the truth.

Bye now. 🙂