Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Simone: Hi everyone and welcome back to HungarianPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, season 1, lesson 16, Let’s Dispense with the Hungarian Formalities. I’m Simone.
Csaba: And I’m Csaba.
Simone: In this lesson you're going to learn how to ask someone if they’d like to switch to the informal language.
Csaba: The conversation takes place at Anne’s workplace.
Simone: And it’s between Anne and Mr. Szabó, her boss.
Csaba: This is a special lesson. They start formal and then change into informal.
Simone: Ok, let’s listen to the conversation.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Simone: All right, so what exactly is going on here?
Csaba: Mr. Szabó is asking for Anne’s permission to use informal language. Normally, it is the older or higher-ranking person at the workplace who can initiate that.
Simone: So Mr. Szabó is asking for permission...
Csaba: Because he is polite and Anne is a woman. It is polite to ask, even if you’re above the other person in age and rank.
Simone: And then Anne agrees and thanks him.
Csaba: Yes. Whenever you are offered to use the informal language, it is polite to thank the other person.
Simone: I see. Can I initiate it too?
Csaba: Sure. Teachers and other people who interact with others do that all the time. The age difference doesn’t matter there because everyone recognizes the need for simpler language in a classroom or similar environment.
Simone: OK, I see. Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is?
Év.
Year.
Év.
Év.
Next?
Igaz.
True.
Igaz.
Igaz.
Next?
Tegez.
To use the informal language.
Te-gez.
Tegez.
Next?
Megenged.
Allow.
Meg-en-ged.
Megenged.
Next?
Szervusz.
Hi, formal.
Szervusz.
Szervusz.
Next?
Majd.
Will, then.
Majd.
Majd.
Next?
Pertu.
A drink.
Pertu.
Pertu.
Next?
Megiszik.
Drink. Drink up.
Megiszik.
Megiszik.
And last?
Üdvözlöm.
Greetings.
Üd-vöz-löm.
Üdvözlöm.
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Simone: All right, what is the first thing we'll discuss from this lesson?
Csaba: First, a word from the last sentence: majd.
Simone: "Will" or "then."
Csaba: Majd.
Simone: This word means that whatever I say is going to happen in the future.
Csaba: For example: Majd hívlak!
Simone: "I'll call you." Repeat again.
Csaba: Majd hívlak. The second word is hívlak, which means "I call you." Majd just adds the future element to the sentence.
Simone: All right, and what else?
Csaba: We had the sentence: már egy éve itt van.
Simone: "You have been here for a year." It is still formal here, by the way. Can we hear it again?
Csaba: Már egy éve itt van. Egy éve is "for a year." These sentences are present tense in Hungarian, since of course there is no present perfect.
Simone: How do you say: "I haven’t eaten for a day."
Csaba: Egy napja nem eszem. Egy napja is "for a day."
Simone: Actually, you can check a lot more of these time words in our lesson notes, right?
Csaba: Oh yes, that's right. All the ready-made conjugated time words are there with examples.
Simone: Alright, and on to the grammar.
GRAMMAR POINT
Simone: In this lesson, we're going to talk about how to ask if it's okay to switch to informal language in Hungarian.
Csaba: Yes. Not only will there be examples, but also a guide on politeness - when and how to use them.
Simone: Where do we start?
Csaba: With Mr. Szabó's sentence: Tegeződjünk. Megengedi? The first half is the verb tegezni, or "to use the informal language with someone." In the dialogue, it is already conjugated first-person plural and imperative.
Simone: Repeat again.
Csaba: Tegeződjünk.
Simone: When do I say this?
Csaba: You only utter this if you are older and you rank higher at a workplace. See, even Mr. Szabó added megengedi? or "may I/do you allow?"
Simone: I see. So this may not work all the time.
Csaba: The question is a little bit more polite. Tegeződhetünk?
Simone: "Can we use the informal tegez with each other?"
Csaba: Tegeződhetünk? Starting with "can we" instead of "let's" makes this more polite. Teachers very often start a course saying this.
Simone: All right, what else do we have?
Csaba: Tegezz nyugodtan!
Simone: "You can use the informal tegez with me."
Csaba: Tegezz nyugodtan! This is directed towards younger people, maybe teens, or if the age difference is big. The elderly might say this one. Literally: "I allow you to tegez me."
Simone: And then I thank them.
Csaba: Very good manners, yes.
Simone: What if I don't want them to tegez?
Csaba: Honestly, I've never heard an offer refused in my life. On the other hand, in heated arguments on the train or somewhere public, you may hear: Ne tegezzen!
Simone: "Don't tegez me!"
Csaba: Ne tegezzen! This really is for arguments only. People also say ne tegezz, which means the same, ironically in the informal language. This is more of a joke, really.
Simone: Say it one more time.
Csaba: Ne tegezz. If you ever get in an argument with a Hungarian friend, throw this in for comedic purposes.
Simone: Ok, thanks for the tip!
Csaba: Well, we've had words, expressions, and culture as well. One last thing for now.
Simone: What's that?
Csaba: I just want to remind everyone that the conjugation for the formal language is the same as the third-person conjugation.
Simone: Which means "formal you" equals "he, she or it"
Csaba: Right. Keep this in mind when you are going through the conjugation tables.

Outro

Simone: OK, that's it for this lesson. Make sure you check the lesson notes and we'll see you next time.
Csaba: Sziasztok.

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