Learn how some Hungarian nicknames and diminutive forms
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Simone: Hi everyone and welcome to Upper Beginner Hungarian, season 1, lesson 16, Getting Cute in Hungarian. I am Simone. |
| Csaba: And I am Csaba. |
| Simone: In this lesson we’re going to learn about Hungarian nicknames and diminutive forms. |
| Csaba: The conversation takes place at Susan’s apartment. |
| Simone: The conversation is between Susan and Dani. |
| Csaba: They use the informal language. |
| Simone: Let’s listen to it now. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Susan: Új nevem van. Szólíts Zsuzsának. |
| Dani: Már gondoltam rá, Zsuzsika. |
| Susan: Az már túl cuki, Zsuzsa jobb lesz. |
| Dani: Miért? Engem is becézel. Maradjunk akkor Zsuzsinál, jó? |
| Susan: Na rendben, Danika. Mi a szitu itthon? |
| Dani: Haha, túl sokat felszedsz a diákoktól. Semmi szitu, minden nyugis. |
| Susan: Király! |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Susan: Új nevem van. Szólíts Zsuzsának. |
| Dani: Már gondoltam rá, Zsuzsika. |
| Susan: Az már túl cuki, Zsuzsa jobb lesz. |
| Dani: Miért? Engem is becézel. Maradjunk akkor Zsuzsinál, jó? |
| Susan: Na rendben, Danika. Mi a szitu itthon? |
| Dani: Haha, túl sokat felszedsz a diákoktól. Semmi szitu, minden nyugis. |
| Susan: Király! |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Susan: Új nevem van. Szólíts Zsuzsának. |
| Simone: I have a new name. Call me Zsuzsa. |
| Dani: Már gondoltam rá, Zsuzsika. |
| Simone: I've thought about this, Zsuzsika. |
| Susan: Az már túl cuki, Zsuzsa jobb lesz. |
| Simone: That's just too cutesy. Zsuzsa is better. |
| Dani: Miért? Engem is becézel. Maradjunk akkor Zsuzsinál, jó? |
| Simone: Why? You're calling me by the nickname too. Let's stay with Zsuzsi then, alright? |
| Susan: Na rendben, Danika. Mi a szitu itthon? |
| Simone: Alright, Danika. Wassup here? |
| Dani: Haha, túl sokat felszedsz a diákoktól. Semmi szitu, minden nyugis. |
| Simone: Haha, you pick up way too much from the students. The situation is all cool, everything's fine. |
| Susan: Király! |
| Simone: Awesome! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Simone: Last time we taught you a couple of Hungarian female names. This time we’ll be looking at a couple of male names that do not exist in English. |
| Csaba: The first obvious choice is my name. Csaba. Short and stylish, this name is probably from Turkish originally. |
| Simone: And that is enough of your own name. Give us another one. |
| Csaba: Well, I guess an obvious choice is Attila. This is still a popular name and one of the few Hun words that exist today. Many people think Hungarians are descendants of the Huns, but in fact this has not been proven. |
| Simone: One more and than we go to vocab. |
| Csaba: You can also choose to take up Zoltán. It is most probably from the Turkish word for sultan, or emperor, leader. Also very common in Hungary. |
| Simone: All right, let’s see 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: szólít [natural native speed] |
| Simone: call |
| Csaba: szólít [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: szólít [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: gondol [natural native speed] |
| Simone: think about |
| Csaba: gondol [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: gondol [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: becéz [natural native speed] |
| Simone: "call someone by their nickname" |
| Csaba: becéz [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: becéz [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: marad [natural native speed] |
| Simone: stay at |
| Csaba: marad [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: marad [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: szitu [natural native speed] |
| Simone: "situation (slang)" |
| Csaba: szitu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: szitu [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: itthon [natural native speed] |
| Simone: at home |
| Csaba: itthon [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: itthon [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: felszed [natural native speed] |
| Simone: pick up |
| Csaba: felszed [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: felszed [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: nyugis [natural native speed] |
| Simone: "calm, chill (slang)" |
| Csaba: nyugis [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: nyugis [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Csaba: Király! [natural native speed] |
| Simone: "Cool! Awesome! (slang)" |
| Csaba: Király! [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Csaba: Király! [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 of the vocab section is this |
| Simone: “The situation is all cool, everything's fine.” |
| Csaba: Semmi szitu, minden nyugis. Susan says this sentences for a comedic purpose. It sounds way too cool but you can separate the two clauses to make less loaded sentences. Semmi szitu means “nothing going on.” |
| Simone: And the other one? |
| Csaba: Minden nyugis. Minden nyugis. It means “everything is calm.” |
| Simone: All right, what is the next vocab item? |
| Csaba: Felszedni is “to pick up.” Besides the literal meaning, in Hungarian we also use it in the sense of “learn without effort.” |
| Simone: Let’s see a sentence with it. |
| Csaba: Felszedtem egy-két szót. |
| Simone: “I’ve picked up a couple words.” |
| Csaba: Felszedtem egy-két szót. The dialogue had the sentence |
| Csaba: Túll sokat felszedsz a diákoktól. Diákoktól is “from the students.” |
| Simone: And finally we have a verb for calling someone in their nickname. |
| Csaba: This verb is becézni. 2X |
| Simone: Use it in a sentence, please. |
| Csaba: Téged hogy becéznek? |
| Simone: “How are you nicknamed?” is the literal translation. |
| Csaba: Téged hogy becéznek? Becenév is the noun form, it means nickname. A becenevem Csabi. |
| Simone: “My nickname is Csabi.” |
| Csaba: A becenevem Csabi. |
| Simone: All right, let’s take a look at the grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Simone: In this grammar point we’ll cover a lighter topic than what you might be used to. It is about nicknames and diminutive forms. |
| Csaba: Diminutive forms of nouns express smaller size, lesser intensity or endearment. Much like how Susan becomes Suzy, Hungarian also has a lot of such transformations. |
| Simone: And because of this we’ll only be able to give you a few examples and base rule, but no single set of rules describe the process completely. Than means that you have to spend time with Hungarians and get used to arbitrary forms sometimes. |
| Csaba: The diminutive ending for nouns are -ka, -ke. Repeat these |
| Simone: “table” – “small table” |
| Csaba: Only the diminutive form now |
| Simone: “mouse” – “little mouse” |
| Csaba: Egérke. Some nouns can’t take these endings in such a simple way and nouns ending in -a or -e almost never do. With those, -cska, -cske often work. For example |
| Simone: “ant” – “little ant” |
| Csaba: Hangyácska. Another example can be |
| Simone: “tree” – “little tree” |
| Csaba: Fácska. Some animals have at least four names. For example “cat,” which is normally...? |
| Simone: Macska. |
| Csaba: Right, macska, can be called on of the following |
| Simone: Haha, repeat them please. |
| Csaba: cica – cicus – cicuska – cicamica Dogs are even crazier, listen to all these |
| Simone: All of these mean “dog” or “doggy.” |
| Csaba: With names, things can get even crazier. Nicknames often end in -i, just like Péter – Peti, Tamás – Tomi, Éva – Évi, Zsuzsa – Zsuzsi. |
| Simone: Those are pretty easy to decipher. |
| Csaba: And to these you can pile diminutive endings. You can not only say Dani, but Danika. Csabika. Petike. And so on. Other names end in -csi. |
| Simone: A few examples, please. |
| Csaba: János, or “John” becomes Jancsi. Károly, or “Charles” becomes Karcsi. Júlia becomes Julcsi. |
| Simone: Some are completely crazy and make no sense. |
| Csaba: And very hard to reverse engineer. Sándor becomes Sanyi |
| Simone: And it means “Alexander” |
| Csaba: And István becomes Pityu or Pista. |
| Simone: Of all things, this in Hungarian is “Steven.” |
| Csaba: Like we said, you’ll slowly get used to them, since Hungarians very often prefer to use nicknames. |
| Simone: Well, this is it for now, please check out the PDF guide and until next time |
| Csaba: Sziasztok! |
Outro |
| Simone: That just about does it for today. |
| Csaba: Looking for a word definition? |
| Simone: Find exactly what you're looking for with the Instant Word Finder! |
| Simone: Search the word dictionary in the top right corner of our site to find the word you're looking for in English or Hungarian. |
| Csaba: We'll also display related audio lessons in our archive! |
| Simone: Add the word directly to your Word Bank... |
| Csaba: ...and drill yourself with My Word Bank flashcards |
| Simone: Go to HungarianPod101.com, and try it now. |
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