The advantage the definite conjugation guarantees us, that is concision and short phraseology, is the disadvantage at the same time.
Here we have a simple dialogue:
-Látod? -Igen, látom.
-Can you see it? -Yes, I can see it.
With no context, it is not possible to tell what we refer to. It is because the definite form ’látom’ can refer to the following:
Látom | azt azokat |
őt őket |
magát magukat |
önt önöket |
I can see | it those |
him/her them |
you-sing. polite you-plur. polite |
you-sing. polite you-plur. polite |
So who or what exactly do we refer to in the dialogue? The answer is: we don’t know until we give it a context. That is why I translated ’látod’ and ’látom’ with the pronoun ’it’. In Hungarian there is no distinction between genders. That can cause problems when you have to translate sentences without any context.
In excercises for Hungarian students references are given: Látom őt. – I can see ____ (girl). That is how the students know that they have to write the pronoun ’her’.
Now back to our example. We need a context.
-Nézd! Ott van egy csinos lány. Látod? -Igen, látom.
-Look. There’s a pretty girl over there. Can you see her? -Yes, I can see her.
Here I’ll enumerate the possibilities for you with ’lát-see’ in definite conjugation:
Látom | azt, azokat őt, őket magát, magukat önt, önöket magamat magunkat |
I can see | it, those him/her, them you (polite) you (polite) myself ourselves |
Látod | azt, azokat őt, őket magadat magatokat |
You can see | it, those him/her, them yourself yourselves |
Látja | azt, azokat őt, őket magát, magukat önt, önöket magát magukat |
He can see She can see |
it, those him/her, them you (polite) you (polite) him/herself themselves |
Látjuk | azt, azokat őt, őket magát, magukat önt, önöket magunkat |
We can see | it, those him/her, them you (polite) you (polite) ourselves |
Látjátok | azt, azokat őt, őket magatokat |
You can see | it, those him/her, them yourselves |
Látják | azt, azokat őt, őket magát, magukat önt, önöket magukat |
They can see | it, those him/her, them you (polite) you (polite) themselves |
As you can see, I wrote ’magát, magukat’ twice where it is possible because these pronouns are different in English. In Hungarian they can be personal pronouns expressing politeness. In this case they are equivalent to ’you, sir/madam…’. They can also be reflexive pronouns meaning …self (himself, themselves…).