Learn how to use articles
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Simone: Hi everyone and welcome to Upper Beginner Hungarian, season 1, lesson 1, At the Hungarian Airport. I am Simone. |
| Csaba: And I am Csaba. Sziasztok. |
| Simone: In this lesson we’re going to learn about Hungarian articles and discuss the differences between “a dog” and “the dog.” |
| Csaba: The conversation takes place at the airport, while passing through customs. |
| Simone: The conversation is between Susan and a customs officer. |
| Csaba: They use the formal language. |
| Simone: Let’s listen to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Customs officer: Elnézést kisasszony. Ez a táska az öné? |
| Susan: Nem, az az enyém. |
| Customs officer: Kinyitná, kérem? |
| Susan: Természetesen. |
| Customs officer: Mi a foglalkozása? |
| Susan: Nyelvtanár vagyok. |
| Customs officer: A címe? |
| Susan: A címem Budapest, második kerület... |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Customs officer: Ez a táska az öné? |
| Susan: Nem, az az enyém. |
| Customs officer: Kinyitná, kérem? |
| Susan: Természetesen. |
| Customs officer: Mi a foglalkozása? |
| Susan: Nyelvtanár vagyok. |
| Customs officer: A címe? |
| Susan: A címem Budapest, második kerület... |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Customs officer: Elnézést kisasszony. Ez a táska az öné? |
| Simone: Excuse me, miss. Is this your bag? |
| Susan: Nem, az az enyém. |
| Simone: No, that is mine. |
| Customs officer: Kinyitná, kérem? |
| Simone: Could you open it, please? |
| Susan: Természetesen. |
| Simone: Of course. |
| Customs officer: Mi a foglalkozása? |
| Simone: What is your job? |
| Susan: Nyelvtanár vagyok. |
| Simone: I'm a language teacher. |
| Customs officer: A címe? |
| Simone: Your address? |
| Susan: A címem Budapest, második kerület... |
| Simone: My address is Budapest, second district... |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Simone: Do we have to expect such questions? |
| Csaba: Well, not necessarily. At the airport you might be pulled out of the crowd for a surprise inspection, just like in every country. If you’re driving out of Hungary in many cases you don’t even notice that you left the country until you see a sign in a different language. |
| Simone: This is definitely one of the benefits of the European Union. Which are the countries that are the easiest to visit? |
| Csaba: Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia are very easy to visit. Especially in the case of Slovakia, you’ll probably slow down a bit, but otherwise nobody asks for your documents. Moving towards the East, you might be stopped sometimes. |
| Simone: I guess it’s still a great thing, especially if you’re into driving. In Eastern Europe driving in the same direction for four hours will most likely get you to another country. You also do that often? |
| Csaba: Quite often.. Like I said earlier – having no borders so to speak speeds the process up significantly. |
| Simone: All right, let’s take a look at the vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Simone: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Csaba: kisasszony [natural native speed] |
| Simone: Miss |
| Csaba: kisasszony [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: kisasszony [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: táska [natural native speed] |
| Simone: bag |
| Csaba: táska [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: táska [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: kinyit [natural native speed] |
| Simone: open |
| Csaba: kinyit [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: kinyit [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: természetesen [natural native speed] |
| Simone: naturally, of course |
| Csaba: természetesen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: természetesen [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: foglalkozás [natural native speed] |
| Simone: vocation |
| Csaba: foglalkozás [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: foglalkozás [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: nyelvtanár [natural native speed] |
| Simone: language teacher |
| Csaba: nyelvtanár [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: nyelvtanár [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: cím [natural native speed] |
| Simone: address |
| Csaba: cím [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: cím [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: kerület [natural native speed] |
| Simone: district |
| Csaba: kerület [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: kerület [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: nyelv [natural native speed] |
| Simone: tongue, language |
| Csaba: nyelv [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: nyelv [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Simone: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Csaba: The first sentence we take a look at is Kinyitná, kérem? |
| Simone: “Could you open it, please?” |
| Csaba: Kinyitná, kérem? Kinyitná means “would you open?” In Hungarian, conditionals are often used to make polite requests. This is also in the third person singular, which is the polite “you.” |
| Simone: Can you use this in another sentence? |
| Csaba: Kinyitná az ablakot? |
| Simone: “Could you open the window, please?” |
| Csaba: Kinyitná az ablakot? This is also very polite. You’ll probably need this sentence at some point if you take a crowded train in Hungary. |
| Simone: All right, what else is in this section? |
| Csaba: “We’ve heard two possessive pronouns. Öné. |
| Simone: “Yours” – polite. |
| Csaba: Öné. |
| Simone: Can you repeat the sentence from the dialogue? |
| Csaba: Ez a táska az öné? 2X |
| Simone: “Is this bag yours?” |
| Csaba: Ez a táska means “this bag.” |
| Simone: Let’s use it in another one. |
| Csaba: Öné a szó. |
| Simone: “The stage is all yours.” This means that it is your turn to speak. |
| Csaba: Öné a szó. Szó means “word.” |
| Simone: What was the other possessive pronoun? |
| Csaba: Enyém. 2X |
| Simone: “Mine.” |
| Csaba: Az a telefon az enyém. |
| Simone: “That cell phone is mine.” |
| Csaba: Az a telefon az enyém. The first part of the sentence has a demonstrative and an article. We’ll come back to this in the grammar part. For now |
| Simone: And for the last vocab item we have... |
| Csaba: Természetesen. This word means “naturally, of course.” |
| Simone: Use it in a sentence, please. |
| Csaba: Természetesen én is megyek. |
| Simone: “Naturally I am also going.” Say it again. |
| Csaba: Természetesen én is megyek. |
| Simone: All right, let’s see the grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Simone: In this lesson we’re going to take a look at Hungarian articles. |
| Csaba: More specifically we’re going to explain where the Hungarian definite article is used differently from English. |
| Simone: As you may remember from previous lessons, there are two forms of the definite article. |
| Csaba: Yes, a comes before nouns starting in a consonant. A kutya. |
| Simone: “The dog.” |
| Csaba: And az comes before nouns starting in a vowel. Az elefánt. |
| Simone: “The elephant.” Now, what is new for this lesson? |
| Csaba: We’ll repeat one of the first sentences from the dialogue. Ez a táska az öné? |
| Simone: “Is this you bag?” |
| Csaba: Ez a táska az öné? The first word is the demonstrative. Ez means “this.” In Hungarian, after the demonstrative you still have to use the definite article. Ez a táska. |
| Simone: “This bag.” |
| Csaba: Another example |
| Simone: “That car is beautiful.” |
| Csaba: “Az a kocsi szép.” Again, az is the demonstrative, a is the article. |
| Simone: But az also means “the.” |
| Csaba: Here you have to remember that az means two things in Hungarian. It is the demonstrative “that” and the pre-vowel definite article, “the.” Therefore if we want to say something like “that table,” a word which starts in a vowel in Hungarian, it will sound like this |
| Simone: Let’s use it in a simple sentence. “That table is big.” |
| Csaba: Az az asztal nagy. 2X |
| Simone: All right, we’ll remember to use the articles after demonstratives. What else is new? |
| Csaba: The second half of the previous sentence is az öné. |
| Simone “Yours.” |
| Csaba: Right, öné means “yours,” but in Hungarian you have put the definite articles before the possessive nouns and pronouns. |
| Simone: As if we were saying in English “the yours.” |
| Csaba: Exactly. We also heard |
| Simone: “That is mine.” |
| Csaba: Az az enyém. The first az is the demonstrative, the second one is the article. Az enyém literally means “the mine,” which is how Hungarians form the possessive. |
| Simone: All right, demonstrative before possessed nouns. Noted. |
| Csaba: One last example here |
| Simone: “My address is Budapest...” |
| Csaba: A címem Budapest... A címem is “my address.” The possessive in Hungarian is a bigger issue, we’ll come back to that in the next few lessons. |
| Csaba: Make sure you check our PDF guide for more examples and goodies. |
Outro |
| Simone: That just about does it for today. |
| Simone: Like our podcasts? |
| Csaba: Then like our Facebook Page too! |
| Simone: Get lesson updates, our Hungarian Word of the Day and news on Facebook. |
| Csaba: Just search for HungarianPod.com and like our fan page |
| Simone: And if you like a lesson or series on HungarianPod.com... |
| Csaba: Let us know... |
| Simone: ...by clicking the like button next to the lesson or series! |
| Simone: That’s all for this lesson. Bye! |
| Csaba: Until next time, sziasztok. |
Comments
Hide