Learn a few phrases you can use to understand the culture better
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Simone: Hi, everyone. Welcome back to HungarianPod101.com. I’m Simone and this is Basic Bootcamp Lesson 3. Useful phrases for learning Hungarian. |
| Csaba: Sziasztok! Csaba vagyok. In this series, we go over all the basics that will get you on the right track to learning Hungarian quickly. |
| Simone: Right. In this lesson, you will learn several essential phrases to help you learn Hungarian. |
| Csaba: You can use the phrases of this lesson when you are at a loss for words or caught in a confusing situation. |
| Simone: These phrases will help you avoid or resolve misunderstandings whenever and wherever you are in Hungary. |
| Csaba: Using Hungarian to learn Hungarian can help you improve much faster. |
| Simone: Ok. Here we have a little Hungarian dream sequence for you. |
| Csaba: Yes, it’s a really common situation a learner will be in. |
| Simone: The case of the missing word. |
| Csaba: You want to say something but you don’t have the vocabulary. |
| Simone: For some of us it’s not just a dream, maybe more like a recurring nightmare. |
| Csaba: Well, the nightmare is over now. |
| Simone: So listen to Csaba and me try to overcome some language difficulties by using simple but very useful phrases and try to keep up. Let’s hear the dialogue for this lesson. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: Elnézést, hogy van magyarúl hogy "ticket?" |
| B: Jegy. |
| A: Elnézést, nem értem. Elmondaná még egyszer? |
| B: Jegy. |
| A: Kérem mondja lassabban. |
| B: Jegy. |
| A: Leírná magyarul? |
| A: Elnézést, hogy van magyarúl hogy "ticket?" |
| B: Jegy. |
| A: Elnézést, nem értem. Elmondaná még egyszer? |
| B: Jegy. |
| A: Kérem mondja lassabban. |
| B: Jegy. |
| A: Leírná magyarul? |
| A: Elnézést, hogy van magyarúl hogy "ticket?" |
| A: Excuse me, how do you say "ticket" in Hungarian? |
| B: Jegy. |
| B: Ticket. |
| A: Elnézést, nem értem. Elmondaná még egyszer? |
| A: I don't understand. Can you say it once again, please? |
| B: Jegy. |
| B: Ticket. |
| A: Kérem mondja lassabban. |
| A: Please, speak slower. |
| B: Jegy. |
| B: Ticket. |
| A: Leírná magyarul? |
| A: Could you write this down for me in Hungarian, please? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Simone: So when could you use these sentences in a conversation? Are they formal or informal? |
| Csaba: Since you ask for help from a stranger, we mostly use the formal speech. |
| Simone: And would you say that Hungarians are going to be helpful if you ask using these sentences? |
| Csaba: I guarantee that you’ll have a very grateful audience. Most of the time, Hungarians are very happy to hear a foreigner try to speak their language. |
| Simone: I see. |
| Csaba: I just want to tell all the listeners that most of the time we indicate whether a sentence is formal or informal. If there is no indication, then it doesn’t make a difference there. |
| Simone: I hope you guys are listening closely. This might just be a way to get free beer. |
| Csaba: Don’t push it though. |
| Simone: Alright, ok. Let’s take a closer look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Simone: First we have… |
| Csaba: elnézést |
| Simone: “Excuse me” or “I'm sorry”. |
| Csaba: elnézést, elnézést |
| Simone: And next. |
| Csaba: van |
| Simone: “There is” or “to be”, third person, singular. |
| Csaba: van, van |
| Simone: And next. |
| Csaba: magyarul |
| Simone: In Hungarian. |
| Csaba: magyarul, magyarul |
| Simone: And next. |
| Csaba: nem |
| Simone: Not, don’t. |
| Csaba: nem, nem |
| Simone: Next. |
| Csaba: érteni |
| Simone: To understand. |
| Csaba: érteni, érteni |
| Simone: Next. |
| Csaba: elmondani |
| Simone: To say, to explain. |
| Csaba: elmondani, elmondani |
| Simone: And next. |
| Csaba: még |
| Simone: More, again. |
| Csaba: még, még |
| Simone: Next. |
| Csaba: egyszer |
| Simone: Once. |
| Csaba: egyszer, egyszer |
| Simone: And next. |
| Csaba: kérem |
| Simone: Please. |
| Csaba: kérem, kérem |
| Csaba: mondani |
| Simone: To say. |
| Csaba: mondani, mondani |
| Simone: And next. |
| Csaba: lassú |
| Simone: Slow. |
| Csaba: lassú, lassú |
| Simone: And next. |
| Csaba: leírni |
| Simone: To write down. |
| Csaba: leírni, leírni |
| Simone: Ok, I think we’ll never be at a loss for words now. |
| Csaba: That’s right. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Simone: So what exactly were all those words? Let’s break them down. The first phrase we had was… |
| Csaba: Elnézést, hogy van magyarul, hogy... ? “Excuse me, how do we say……... in Hungarian?” |
| Simone: The first word is “elnézést” which means “excuse me” if you put it at the beginning of the question sentence. It can also mean “I'm sorry” if you use it in the context of the English “sorry”. |
| Csaba: So the first phrase we have expresses the request for help, therefore we use “elnézést” in the meaning of “excuse me”. |
| Simone: Let’s say it again. |
| Csaba: elnézést, elnézést, elnézést |
| Simone: “Excuse me” or “I’m sorry”. The next word is… |
| Csaba: hogy |
| Simone: Which means “how” or “that”. We actually have both in this sentence. |
| Csaba: We’ve mentioned this word before in the first Basic Bootcamp lesson in the phrase “Örülök, hogy megismertelek!”, remember? |
| Simone: Oh, that’s right. Nice to meet you, right? |
| Csaba: Yeah. Easy? hogy |
| Simone: Ok. And the next word we have is… |
| Csaba: van |
| Simone: Means a lot of things but here it’s “is”. |
| Csaba: Finally, magyarul. |
| Simone: Which literally means “in Hungarian”. And then just add the word you want to know in the end. |
| Csaba: Elnézést, hogy van magyarul, hogy... ? |
| Simone: All you need here is hope that your companion speaks English enough to understand and say it in Hungarian for you. Now let’s make a short dialogue using the words we’ve just learned. Elnézést, hogy van magyarul, hogy ticket? |
| Csaba: The answer is jegy. |
| Simone: Here we go. Let’s move on to the second phrase. |
| Csaba: Nem értem. Nem értem. |
| Simone: Nem literally means “not” or “don’t, doesn’t, didn’t, won’t” etc. Because we express tenses in Hungarian by modifying the verb ending and not by the variations of the verb “to do” as in English. |
| Csaba: That’s right. And our next verb is clear evidence of that. Értem, értem, értem. |
| Simone: Értem literally means “I understand” and we can also use it by itself, provided we really did understand something. Next phrase? |
| Csaba: Elmondaná még egyszer? Elmondaná még egyszer? |
| Simone: Elmondaná means “could you say or explain”. It is used in formal speech and we also added még egyszer?. |
| Csaba: Még egyszer which means “once more”. |
| Simone: So literally we are saying “Can you say it again?” Great. Let’s repeat the whole phrase again. |
| Csaba: Elmondaná még egyszer? Elmondaná még egyszer? |
| Simone: Ok. Let’s move to sentence number four. |
| Csaba: Kérem mondja lassabban. |
| Simone: Kérem is the word for “please. The next word is… |
| Csaba: Mondja, mondja, mondja. |
| Simone: This means “say” in the imperative. So we’re basically asking someone to do it with the verb form. |
| Csaba: Yes, and in order not to sound rude we put kérem before it. “Please, speak.” There’s a lot of politeness in the air now. |
| Simone: And the next word is… |
| Csaba: Lassabban, lassabban. |
| Simone: This literally means “more slowly” or “slower”. In case you were wondering how to say “slow” in Hungarian… |
| Csaba: Lassú, lassú. |
| Simone: Ok, let’s say the phrase once more. |
| Csaba: Kérem mondja lassabban. |
| Simone: And finally the last phrase for this lesson… |
| Csaba: Leírná magyarul? “Could you write this down in Hungarian for me, please?” |
| Simone: We start with the word leírná or “Could you write it down?” |
| Csaba: Yes, that pretty much covers the whole thing. Leírná, leírná, leírná. |
| Simone: Followed by saying what language you wanted it written down in. |
| Csaba: magyarul |
| Simone: As we learned earlier, magyarul means “in Hungarian”. Let’s hear the whole sentence again. |
| Csaba: Leírná magyarul? Leírná magyarul? |
| Simone: Very easy and useful. |
Outro |
|---|
| Csaba: Ok, that’s it for today. Get instant access to all of our language learning lessons. |
| Simone: With any subscription, instantly access our entire library of audio and video lessons. |
| Csaba: Download the lessons or listen or watch online. |
| Simone: Put them on your phone or another mobile device, and listen, watch and learn anywhere. |
| Csaba: Lessons are organized by level. So progress in order, one level at a time. |
| Simone: Or skip around to different levels. It’s up to you. |
| Csaba: Instantly access them all right now at HungarianPod101.com. |
| Simone: Thanks for listening everyone! Good-bye! |
| Csaba: Sziasztok! |
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