Learn how to ask "Where is the bathroom?
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sziasztok. Hello and welcome to Hungarian Survival Phrases brought to you by HungarianPod101.com, this course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Hungary. You will be surprised at how far a little Hungarian will go. |
| Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by HungarianPod101.com and there, you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| In today’s lesson, we'll cover an extremely important phrase, "Where is the toilet?" |
| In Hungarian, "Where is the toilet?" is Hol van a vécé? |
| Hol van a vécé? |
| Let's break it down by syllables. Hol van a vé-cé? |
| Now let's hear it once again: Hol van a vécé? |
| Let's look at the components. |
| The first word, hol, means, "where." |
| Let's hear it one more time: hol. |
| hol |
| This is followed by van, which in Hungarian means "is." |
| Let's try it again. van. |
| van |
| Then we have a. |
| a |
| This is one of the definite articles in Hungarian. |
| The last word is vécé, "toilet." |
| Again, vécé. |
| As in many European countries, you can find this word spelled like W-C. |
| There is a more formal way to ask a similar question: "Where can I find the bathroom?" It is Hol találom a mosdót? |
| Let us break it down to syllables. |
| Hol ta-lá-lom a mos-dót? |
| Again, hol means "where." |
| This is followed by találom, which means something like "I find." |
| Találom. |
| Then we have the same article again, a. |
| Last we have a new word, mosdót, which is "bathroom, restroom" in the accusative. |
| Mosdót. |
| The whole sentence for the last time: Hol találom a mosdót? |
| Hol találom a mosdót? |
| Hol találom a mosdót? |
| Of these two sentences, the second sounds a bit nicer when in an elegant restaurant. |
| Hol találom a mosdót? |
| The first one is what you would use when you are visiting a friend. |
| Hol van a vécé? |
| Now, when you finally get to the bathroom, there may be one last hurdle. In some instances, only Hungarian words are written on the doors! What to do, what to do? Well, you can stop by the website and find the words for "man" and "woman" there inside the PDF, or if you have an iPod or iPhone, click the center button. |
| The word for "men's" is férfi. The word for "women's" is női. |
| let's hear it once more. The word for "men's" is férfi. The word for "women's" is női. |
| When travelling, there may not be many public bathrooms for tourists to use. This means your best option is to stop at either a café or a restaurant to use their bathrooms. Understandably, café owners aren't too keen on having people stop in just to use their bathroom. So to be polite, you might want to buy a bottle of water or order a coffee before asking, Hol találom a mosdót? |
Outro |
| Okay, to close out today's lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for shouting it aloud. You'll have a few seconds before I give you the answer; so, sok szerencsét, which means "good luck" in Hungarian. |
| "Where is the bathroom? (informal)" - Hol van a vécé? |
| Hol van a vécé? |
| Hol van a vécé? |
| "Where is the bathroom? (formal)" - Hol találom a mosdót? |
| Hol találom a mosdót? |
| Hol találom a mosdót? |
| "women's" - női |
| női |
| női |
| "men's" - férfi |
| férfi |
| férfi |
| All right. That’s is going to do it for today. Remember to stop by HungarianPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. Sziasztok! |
Comments
HideLet's practice what you learnt today. What would you like to say the most?
Kedves 123,
Nagyon szépen köszönöm!:sunglasses:
Neked is kellemes karácsonyi ünnepeket kívánok!
And please don't hesitate to send us comments, it is a pleasure to talk to you!:wink:
Enjoy your stay in Budapest!!
Best,
Dorottya
Team HungarianPod101.com
Szia Dorottya,
Szívesen.
I can't wait to visit Budapest!
Unfortunately, I have to wait for Cristmas 13 more days (until 7th January) (I'm Orthodox).
Boldog Karácsonyt, Dorottya, and have a nice day! ?
Szia egy kettő három :laughing:
Köszönjük szépen!
We are looking forward to reading your news! We hope you will have a wonderful time in Budapest!:sunglasses:
Boldog Karácsonyt!
Dorottya
Team HungarianPod101.com
Forgot a translation: "Ez egy nagyon hasznos lecke!"- "This is very useful lesson!":smile:
Ez egy nagyon hasznos lecke! I'm traveling to Budapest for Cristmas to see how does it look then, and, of course, to practice Hungarian! :wink::thumbsup:
Hi Viola,
I still stand by that explanation.:smile: For starters, don't make the nouns plural, if there is a numeral preceding it.:smile:
Van két kutya,
“I have two dogs”
This is not correct though, but not because of the plural-singular issue, but because possessives have to marked on the noun too.
Van két kutyám.
"I have two dogs"
("Dogs" still singular in Hungarian.)
Csaba
Team HungarianPod101.com
Hey.
To quote you from another session: "In Hungarian, though there is a plural form of nouns, it is only used in constructions like "The dogs went home" and not in simple quantitative-noun constructions, like "three dogs."
A sample here is: Azok női cipők.
"Those are women's shoes."
but
Van két kutya,
"I have two dogs"
Can you please explain the rules for where one is going to make it plural? ::open_mouth:
Thanks for your question Spencer. A good, polite way to ask would be "Elnézést, kérhetnék vécé papírt?" This translates to 'Excuse me, may I request some toilet paper?' You should recognize elnézést from previous lessons, while kérhetnék breaks down to 'request, may I'; vécé comes from this lesson, and papír means paper and has the accusative ending here. I hope that helps.
Since we are on the subject of bathrooms, how does a person ask for toilet paper if there is none? How does this question differ in the unfortunate event you mus t request someone (a stranger) bring it to you after business has begun? Thanks for another very useful lesson and taking the question with a straight face.