The Definite Article
You probably deduced from the above sentences
that the definite article in Hungarian is A. Remember to pronounce it
like aw and not like the English indefinite article 'a'. A
corresponds to the English 'the' and before a word beginning with a vowel, A becomes Az.
A város - the city
Az autó - the car
Equational Sentences
You also probably noticed that in the above sentences there was a construction like 'A város szép' and 'A no" magyar' in which there was no verb corresponding to the English 'is'. Hungarian does have a verb 'is' and it is often used, but for sentences like these, called equational sentences, it is not used. This rule however, only applies to 3rd person subjects.
Personal Pronouns and the Irregular Verb 'Lenni'
The personal pronouns
in Hungarian are as follows, along with their corresponding forms of the verb
'lenni', 'to be':
| én vagyok I am
| mi vagyunk we are
|
| te vagy you are
| ti vagytok you (plural) are
|
| ő van he, she, it is
| ők vannak they are |
Note: There is also a personal pronoun 'maga' and its
plural form 'maguk' which are the formal, or polite form of 'you'. It
uses the 3rd person verb forms however.
Te angol vagy?
Are you
English (For example, one teenager to another)
Maga magyar? (remember, we don't use 'van' here)
Are you Hungarian? (Say, one adult stranger to another)
Like German, French, and other European languages, the forms te and ti> are used only when speaking with close friends, family,
children, or among young people.
Omission of Personal Pronoun
When using verbs, the ending signifies
the person and number, so the use of the personal pronouns is optional and
they are used mainly for emphasis. Note the following sentences:
Amerikai
vagyok. (also note the preferred word order here)
Angol vagy?
Itt
vagyunk. (We are here)
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