I can't give any sentences with vannak because you don't know any
plurals yet, but it is used the same way obviously.
When you want to negate
and say 'there is not', use the word nincs. 'Nem van' is incorrect. The
negation of 'nem vannak' is nincsenek, but there will be examples in
Lesson Seven when the plural is covered.
Note: If you say 'there is not' and the words 'nem' and 'van' are not following each other (there is another word between them it means emphasis on that word) then they don't change to 'nincs'. E.g. Nem Jancsi van itt. = It's not Jancsi here. or Nem itt van Jancsi. = Jancsi is not here. (...he's somewhere else), while 'Jancsi is not here' = Nincs itt Jancsi.Nincs ott kórház.
There is not a hospital there (There is no hospital
there).
Nincs asztal?
Isn't there a table?
The Irregular Verb Menni 'to go'
Here is the conjugation of the verb menni with the irregular forms in bold. Example sentences will follow
the next grammar section.
| én megyek
| mi megyünk
|
| te mész
| ti mentek
|
| ő megy
| ők mennek |
Note: Menni is an intransitive verb, so there is no definite conjugation.
Prepositions of Motion
While English has the preposition 'to' to
express motion, Hungarian uses a suffix to express the same idea. This is the
same idea of the ban/ben suffix which you learned in Lesson
Three.
The basic suffix for 'to' or 'into' is ba/be (obviously one
for back and one for front words). Look at the following sentences:
Az orvos a kórházba megy.
The doctor is going to/into the
hospital.
Mész Londonba?
Are you going to London?
However, there are two other suffixes which mean 'to', but have slightly
different meanings.
The ra/re suffix means 'on to'. You see above
that ba/be is used with place names. Well, for Hungarian places names
the ra/re suffix is used:
Megyünk Magyarországra. Nem megyünk Amerikába.
We are going to
Hungary. We are not going to America.
Most mentek Budapestre?
Are you going to Budapest now?
Mennek az egyetemre. (see note below)
They are going to the
university.
Note: Some Hungarian cities do take ba/be, most notably Győr and Debrecen. For some reason they take irregular suffixes. Some nouns also take ra/re, such as posta and egyetem.
The final suffix meaning 'to (a point in space, as opposed to an enclosed
space)' is hoz/hez/höz. English examples where this would be used are:
'to my friend's', 'to John's'. Similar to French 'chez' and German 'bei'. Look
at the following:
Évához megyünk.
We are going to Eva's.
Egy baráthoz megyek.
I am going to a friend's.
So you can now see the three categories of motion: to an enclosed place, on
to, and to a point in space. These three distinctions are important and they
also apply to the suffixes meaning 'at', 'in', 'on', and 'from' which will be
covered next lesson. So for now memorize these three suffixes, ba/be,
ra/re, hoz/hez/höz and remember how they are used.
Hol vs. Hová
Hová is the question word that corresponds to the above
suffixes. It is used when followed by a verb of motion. Look at the following
sentences:
Hol vagy? - Itt vagyok, a szállodában.
Where are you? - I am here, in the hotel.
BUT:
Hová megy? -A postára megyek. VAGY Londonba VAGY Pestre
Where are you going? - I'm going to the post office OR to London OR to Pest.
Hová akar menni? - Péterhez akarok menni.
Where do you want to go? - I want to go to Peter's.
Go back to the Alphabet and Pronunciation Page