INTRODUCTION |
Simone:Hi everyone and welcome to HungarianPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner Hungarian season 2, 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 the 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, 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 than on average we are required to learn more information than many Western European countries. |
Simone:But... |
Csaba: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 go to vocabulary. |
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:“Even though, but.” |
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 the 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:Repeat again. |
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 grammar.” |
Csaba: Elmagyarázom a nyelvtant. |
Simone:“I’ll explain grammar.” |
Csaba:All right. Let’s do that, actually. |
GRAMMAR POINT |
Simone:In this lesson we’re going to learn to conjugate verbs that end in -s, -sz, -z. All in definite, 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 -j sound in the ending with regular verbs, that -j will assimilate and become an -s, -sz or -z. |
Simone:So if the ending had a -j sound, that sound will become a -s, like in the case of elolvas. |
Csaba:Elolvas ends in -s, so the ending will assimilate with that. |
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:All right. Let’s hear an example. |
Csaba:Let’s use the other word now. Elmagyaráz. |
Simone:“Explain.” |
Csaba:A tanár elmagyarázza a problémát” x 2 |
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 -js and change them. |
Csaba:There you go. |
Simone:How much of the verb conjugation is left? |
Csaba:We’re really knee-deep into it and there is just an amount left. |
Simone:That’s the most non-committal sentence I’ve ever heard. |
Csaba:(laughs) Listeners, don’t be disheartened. There are extra exercises in the lesson notes and we’ll continue with more next time. But not with verbs, I promise. |
Outro
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Simone:Good. Until then, see you! |
Csaba:Sziasztok. |
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