Tag Archives: hogy

How to use the conjunction ‘hogy’?

The conjunction ‘hogy’ is not to be confused with the interrogative pronoun ‘Hogy‘. The first means ‘that‘, the latter is equivalent to ‘How‘.

that = hogy

How? = Hogy? Hogyan?

English likes to omit ‘that‘ even if no interrogative pronoun is present: They thought he was injured. It always omits it when an interrogative pronoun is inserted: Whisper in my ears what your secret is.

In Hungarian the use of ‘hogy‘ has become more and more frequent over the last decades, but this process has already begun in the Habsburg era. The cumbersome German sentence structures had an influence on the Hungarian language. People thought it was ”cool” to imitate the way of speaking which could be heard from the Austrians every day.

The very nature of our language is that it does not like to plunge into circumstantial sentence construction. It can, but ”it does not really like it”.

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To speak Hungarian more fluidly, you can omit ‘hogy‘ when the subordinate clause begins with an interrogative pronoun. (By the way, in reality, Hungarian has no subordinate clause, only secondary clause.)

GOOD:
Nem tudtam, hogy mit tegyek.
I didn’t know what to do.
BETTER:
Nem tudtam, mit tegyek.
I didn’t know what to do.

GOOD:
Kíváncsiak voltunk, hogy miért fordultál ellenünk.
We were curious why you’ve turned against us.
BETTER:
Kíváncsiak voltunk, miért fordultál ellenünk.
We were curious why you’ve turned against us.

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When it comes the ‘How-Hogy‘, there is no Good and Better solution, only Right or Wrong. In this case it is a must that we omit the conjunction ‘hogy‘.

WRONG:
Áruld el, hogy hogy tudtad meg.
Tell me how you’ve learned it.
RIGHT:
Áruld el, hogy tudtad meg.
Tell me how you’ve learned it.

A better solution of the right solution is using the emphasized version of ‘Hogy‘, which is ‘Hogyan‘.

Áruld el, hogyan tudtad meg. – Tell me how you’ve learned it.

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More examples with the Better solution:

Tudja, mit akar, és mindig el is éri a célját.
He knows what he wants and he always achieves his goal.

Senki nem érti, miért követte el a gyilkosságot.
Nobody understands why he has committed murder.

Hívtam és végre elmondta, mikor érkezik a vonattal.
I called her and she finally told me when her train will arrive.

Hallottam a zajt, de el sem tudtam képzelni, ki járkálhatott a kertemben tegnap este.
I heard the noise, but I couldn’t possibly imagine who was walking around in my garden last night.

A rendőr arra kért, mondjam el, hány betörőt láttam ma reggel.
The police officer asked me to tell him how many burglers I have seen this morning.

Ki tudja, merre van a posta?
Who knows where the post-office is?

With verbs expressing opinion, belief it is your choice to use ‘hogy’ regardless whether the sentence has a question word or not.

Gondolom, (hogy) jól mulattál a partin.
I guess you had fun at the party.

Azt hiszitek, (hogy) nem ismerem a szánalmas trükkjeiteket?
Do you think I don’t know your pitiful tricks?

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With verbs that express will, desire we put ‘hogy‘ in the subordinate clause.

Azt akarom, hogy többet ne viselkedj így.
I don’t want you to behave like that ever again.
Literally: I want that you don’t behave like that ever again.

A delegáció úgy óhajtja, hogy a tárgyalás máris elkezdődjön.
The delegation wishes that the negotiations begin right now.

Senki nem kívánhatja, hogy ez még egyszer megtörténjen.
Nobody can possibly wish that this happen once again.

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Under any other circumstances, we do put ‘hogy’ in the sentence. In the following sentence you can also see that English has different methods to express the Hungarian ‘hogy‘.

Hallottad, hogy a barátod kórházba került?
Have you heard that your friend was taken to hospital?

Ki mondta, hogy sehol egy rendőr, amikor szükség van rá?
Who said (that) there is no cop around when you need one?

Az államügyész azt állítja, hogy nem tudott a megvesztegetésről.
The district attorney claims not to have known about the corruption.

Purpose Clause

PURPOSE CLAUSE

English says:

to, so as to, in order to, in order that, so that

Hungarian equivalent:

Azért…, hogy

Azért megyek más nővel, hogy féltékennyé tegyem.
I’m going with another woman in order that I make her jealous.

Azért dolgoztam keményen, hogy megvehessem a kocsit.
I’ve been working hard in order to buy the car.

Kivasaltam az inget, hogy ne legyen gyűrött.
I’ve ironed the shirt so that it would not crumpled.

Azért üvöltesz, hogy az idegeimre menj?
Are you shouting to get on my nerves?

Csak azért ne gyere el, hogy duzzogj egész idő alatt!
You shouldn’t come only to be sulking all the time.

Sometimes it is better to translate the Hungarian sentence in a different way:

Azért nem jön el, hogy ne lássa a lányt.
He’s not coming because he doesn’t want to see the girl.

Negation can be done like this: azért…, hogy ne = not to, so as not to, in order not to

Azért sietek, hogy el ne késsek.
I’ll hurry up so as not to be late.

Azért dorgáltalak meg, hogy többet ne csinálj ilyet.
I’ve reprimanded you so that you wouldn’t do anything like that again.

Note that verbs with prefixes can behave in two ways. In the first sentence you see ‘hogy el ne késsek’. You can also say ‘hogy ne késsek el’. The latter sounds neutral, whereas the first puts emphasis on your feelings. In the following examples the first sentence is neutral, the second expresses much more concern.

Azért kiabáltam az emeletről, hogy ne dobd ki a konzervdobozt.
Azért kiabáltam az emeletről, hogy ki ne dobd a konzervdobozt.
I shouted from upstairs so that you wouldn’t throw the tin can away.

Azért hazudok, hogy ne tudd meg az igazat.
Azért hazudok, hogy meg ne tudd az igazat.
I’m lying to you so that you wouldn’t know the truth.