Learn about the definite conjugation of verbs that end in -s, -z, -sz
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Simone: Hi everyone and welcome to HungarianPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner Hungarian season 1, lesson 15, A Thorny Hungarian Grammar Question. I’m Simone. |
| Csaba: And I’m Csaba. |
| Simone: In this lesson we’re going to explain a bit more about definite conjugation. |
| Csaba: Yes, and the conversation takes place in a classroom. |
| Simone: And is between Anne and a student. |
| Csaba: They use informal language. Language instructors often choose to use the informal language with the students. There is so much interaction in a language class that it seems easier to use that. |
| Simone: Ok, got it. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Simone: Csaba, I was thinking: maybe you should talk about student life in Hungary. |
| Csaba: Well, what do you want to know? It isn't easy, contrary to what a lot of people think. Starting from high school, students are flooded with information. |
| Simone: That explains all the brilliance in geography and other sciences that kids show! |
| Csaba: Right. I think it is safe to say that, on average, we are required to learn more information than in many Western European countries. |
| Simone: Oh, really? |
| Csaba: But I'd say that we get way too little practice on writing skills, building paragraphs, and putting down arguments on paper. This comes in university, which is way too late. |
| Simone: Well, you can't have everything, I suppose. Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Elmagyaráz. |
| Explain. |
| El-ma-gyaráz. |
| El-ma-gyaráz. |
| Next, |
| Nyelvtan. |
| Grammar. |
| Nyelv-tan. |
| Nyelvtan. |
| Next, |
| Ért. |
| Understand. |
| Ért. |
| Ért. |
| Next, |
| Mindig. |
| Always. |
| Mindig. |
| Next, |
| Elolvas. |
| Read. |
| El-ol-vas. |
| Elolvas. |
| Next, |
| Megnéz. |
| Look. Watch. |
| Megnéz. |
| Megnéz. |
| Next, |
| Nehéz. |
| Hard. Difficult. |
| Nehéz. |
| Nehéz. |
| Next, |
| Segítség. |
| Help. |
| Segítség. |
| Segítség. |
| Next, |
| Nincs mit. |
| Not at all. |
| Nincs mit. |
| Nincs mit. |
| Last. |
| Pedig. |
| But, even though. |
| Pe-dig. |
| Pedig. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Simone: All right, what is the first one we’ll talk about? |
| Csaba: The first word we learn is pedig. |
| Simone: “But, even though.” |
| Csaba: Right. In this lesson, we hear: Pedig mindig elolvasom a könyvben. |
| Simone: “But I always check it in the book.” |
| Csaba: The first half of this phrase is in context. “I don’t understand the grammar, even though I always check the textbooks.” |
| Simone: Pedig gives emphasis to this second half. Can you give us another example? |
| Csaba: Pedig én akkor is megyek. |
| Simone: “I’ll go anyway.” |
| Csaba: Pedig én akkor is megyek. Means “I’ll go anyway” and implicitly: “but you suggested otherwise,” or “the weather is bad,” or something else that would prompt me not to go. |
| Simone: I see. Let’s move on. |
| Csaba: The next one is shorter. Nincs mit. |
| Simone: “Not at all,” or “no problem.” |
| Csaba: This is used as an answer to “thank you.” |
| Simone: One more time. |
| Csaba: Nincs mit. |
| Simone: Ok, let’s move on. |
| Csaba: We had two verbs that should be familiar, but this time with a prefix. Elolvas. |
| Simone: “Read.” |
| Csaba: We have already taught you olvas, or “read.” |
| Simone: What’s different now with the prefix el-? |
| Csaba: Elolvas, compared to olvas, means “read thoroughly, finish reading something.” |
| Simone: How do you say “I have read your email?” |
| Csaba: Elolvastam az emailedet. |
| Simone: Again, please. |
| Csaba: Elolvastam az emailedet. |
| Simone: And elmagyaráz was something similar, right? |
| Csaba: Right. Elmagyaráz is “explain.” But the focus is on the result and the effort. When I’m done explaining, you will have understood. |
| Simone: An example, please. |
| Csaba: Elmagyarázom a nyelvtant. |
| Simone: “I’ll explain the grammar.” |
| Csaba: Okay. Now let's check the grammar point. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Simone: In this lesson we’re going to learn to conjugate verbs that end in -s, -sz, -z. All indefinite, of course. |
| Csaba: Right. You should remember that we had three main types of verbs back when we learned indefinite conjugation. Regular, -ik and -s, -sz, -z verbs. |
| Simone: I remember. |
| Csaba: I’m proud of you. Then you also remember that the conjugation was different for all of those. Not completely, but there were differences. |
| Simone: I’m with you. |
| Csaba: The good news here is that -ik verbs conjugate just like regular ones when they are definite. |
| Simone: That is one less table you have to worry about! |
| Csaba: But it still leaves us with -s, -sz, -z verbs and we’re going to cover just those. |
| Simone: Good. How shall we do this? |
| Csaba: Well, I am thinking that we start with me telling you an example, and then we analyze. |
| Simone: Ok, shoot. |
| Csaba: In this lesson we had elolvas. |
| Simone: “Read.” |
| Csaba: I’ll go with the full conjugation now. Elolvasom. |
| Simone: “I read.” |
| Csaba: Elolvasod |
| Simone: “You read.” |
| Csaba: Elolvassa |
| Simone: “He/she reads.” |
| Csaba: Elolvassuk |
| Simone: “We read.” |
| Csaba: Elolvassátok |
| Simone: “You read.” Plural. |
| Csaba: Elolvassák. |
| Simone: “They read.” |
| Csaba: All right. As usual, we strongly recommend that you consult the lesson notes for the conjugation table. But as a rule, I can say that wherever we had a y sound, which is written with a j in the ending with regular verbs, that y will assimilate and become es, es, or zé. |
| Simone: So if the ending had a y sound, again, remember that will be written with an English j, that sound will become a sh, just like in the case of elolvas. |
| Csaba: Elolvas ends in -s, so the ending will assimilate with that. For example, in third person, it becomes elolvassa. |
| Simone: See, every time I feel like there is nothing left for Hungarian to throw at me, it seems that I’m wrong! |
| Csaba: You’re sending out the wrong message (laughs). This is all a lot less complicated than it sounds. |
| Simone: Alright, let's hear an example then. |
| Csaba: Let’s use the other word now. Elmagyaráz. |
| Simone: “Explain.” |
| Csaba: A tanár elmagyarázza a problémát. |
| Simone: “The teacher explains the problem.” |
| Csaba: Instead of saying elmagyarázja, the ending assimilates and becomes elmagyarázza. |
| Simone: I get it. You just check the table for all the -j and change them. |
| Csaba: There you go. |
Outro |
|---|
| Simone: Okay, that's it for this lesson. Thanks, everyone. See you next time. |
| Csaba: Sziasztok. |
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