Learn how to use a couple of verbs with the le- prefix
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Simone:Hi everyone and welcome back to HungarianPod101.com. This is Upper Beginner Hungarian, season 1, lesson 19 - A Date with the Devil in Hungary. I am Simone. |
| Gergő:And I am Gergő. |
| Simone:In this lesson you'll learn a couple of verbs with the le- prefix. |
| Gergő:This conversation takes place at the steakhouse. |
| Simone:It’s between Jenny and Kristóf. |
| Gergő:As you know, the speakers are friends, so they’re using informal language. |
| Simone:Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Simone:So how many insidious exes do you have? |
| Gergő:Well, that is personal, I'm afraid. But I will teach you to use the word “devil.” |
| Simone:Which is? |
| Gergő:Ördög. This word appears in mild curses that you can use whenever, basically, in any environment. |
| Simone:For example? |
| Gergő:Az ördög vigye el. |
| Simone:The literal translation is “May the devil carry it off.” |
| Gergő:Right. You can point at whatever object annoys you, or just shout it out in general. |
| Simone:Although, we wouldn't want our listeners to walk around the streets of Hungary shouting about the devil. |
| Gergő:People are very tolerant. That would only make you one of the colorful crowd of Budapest. |
| Simone:Okay, now let’s take a look at the vocab. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Simone:Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Gergő:First up is Pali, which means “guy, dude, fellow.” Originally, it is also the diminutive form of the name “Paul,” or Pál. |
| Simone:So it actually is “Pauly.” |
| Gergő:Right. “A pauly is looking for you,” is what Hungarians say. Egy pali keres. |
| Simone:That’s kind of funny. What other words refer to guys? |
| Gergő:Tons. You can say fickó, pacák, or csávó which is a Romany loanword that usually refers to younger males. You can also say the very cute ürge which originally means a “prairie dog type of animal.” These all refer to 15-60 year old males. |
| Simone:That is a lot. Could you please repeat them one by one slowly? |
| Gergő:Sure - pali, fickó, pacák, csávó, ürge |
| Simone:Can you choose one for an example sentence please? |
| Gergő:Az a csávó kicsoda? |
| Simone:“Who is that bloke?” |
| Gergő:Az a csávó kicsoda? |
| Simone:Let's move on. |
| Gergő:Next, we have this - asszem. |
| Simone:“I think.” |
| Gergő:Asszem. Both the spelling and the pronunciation are considered not too sophisticated. It is actually the compound of azt and hiszem. |
| Simone:Or “that” and “believe” respectively. |
| Gergő:Azt hiszem. Asszem. |
| Simone:While it might be considered an ugly corruption of the word by some purists, in spoken Hungarian this can be heard more and more often, and our job here is to teach you that... |
| Gergő:...So here is an example - Asszem ráérek holnap. |
| Simone:“I think I'll have time tomorrow.” |
| Gergő:Asszem ráérek holnap. |
| Simone:Asszem this is enough for now. |
| Gergő:Shall we go to grammar? |
| Simone:Yes, let’s go onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Simone:In this lesson you'll learn a couple of verbs with the le- prefix. This will finish the circle, having studied “in,” “out,” and “up” prefix verbs. |
| Gergő:And the first example is this - Már lemondtunk rólad. |
| Simone:“We have already given up on you.” |
| Gergő:Már lemondtunk rólad. The first example is lemondani. Mondani means “tell.” With the prefix, however, this can take two unrelated meanings. Lemondom a magazint. |
| Simone:“I'll cancel the magazine.” |
| Gergő:Lemondom a magazint. The word “say” became “cancel subscription” with the le- attached. |
| Simone:In the dialogue, it was something else though. |
| Gergő:Lemondok Tamásról. |
| Simone:“I give up on Thomas.” |
| Gergő:Lemondok Tamásról. This time, the word means “give up on.” |
| Simone:You can say this when you're disappointed or when you feel like there is no way Thomas will do as he’s told. And the noun, the person you have no hopes in anymore, takes the -ról, -ről ending. |
| Gergő:The example from the dialogue has the corresponding pronoun. Már lemondtunk rólad. |
| Simone:“We have already given up on you.” |
| Gergő:Rólad is “off you.” Now, another le-verb sentence was this - Lebeszéltél. |
| Simone:“You just talked me out of it.” |
| Gergő:Beszél is another word for “talk” or “speak.” Lebeszél however means “talk somebody out of something” or “dissuade from.” |
| Simone:Let's hear an example. |
| Gergő:Lebeszélem Tamást a piáról. |
| Simone:“I'll talk Thomas out of booze.” |
| Gergő:Lebeszélem Tamást a piáról. The object is Thomas, he is in the accusative. The thing I'm dissuading him from gets the -ról, -ről ending again. |
| Simone:We have had a lot of prefixed stuff recently. |
| Gergő:For now, we'll let the topic sink in. We've had “up,” “down,” “in” and “out.” |
| Simone:There are a lot more though, and we'll come back to them. I’ll summarize the most important information the listeners should know about prefixes before we wrap this up. One, prefixes can indicate direction. Two, prefixes can indicate completion. Three, prefixes can give abstract meanings to verbs. By “abstract” we mean that the meaning of the compound cannot be guessed from the verb and the prefix. These are often included in dictionaries. |
| Gergő:We advise you to practice, try your luck, and of course use our lessons to help you get ahead with them. |
Outro |
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| Simone:For now, we’ll leave it there. As always, be sure to check the lesson notes. Thanks for listening, everyone! |
| Gergő:And we’ll see you next time. Sziasztok! |
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