Learn how to use formal Hungarian with elderly people
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Simone:Hi everyone and welcome to Lower Beginner, season 2, lesson 23, Respecting Your Elders in Hungarian. This is Simone. |
| Csaba:And this is Csaba, sziasztok. |
| Simone:In this lesson we’re going to learn about using polite language with the elderly. |
| Csaba:The conversation takes place on the tram. |
| Simone:It is between Anne and an old lady. |
| Csaba:They use the formal language. |
| Normal Speed |
| Anne: Csókolom, tessék ideülni. |
| Öreg néni: Köszönöm kedveském. Nagyon udvarias. |
| Anne: Még hosszú az út, tessék pihenni. |
| Öreg néni: Nagyon kedves. Bárcsak minden fiatal ilyen lenne! |
| Anne: Hová tetszik menni? |
| Öreg néni: A piacra. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Simone:How is it that old women are always going to the market? |
| Csaba:Haha, I think that’s just your perception. And that was not the point of this lesson anyway. |
| Simone:What was it then? |
| Csaba:Being polite in Hungarian. Most kids learn this at the age of six, when they start elementary school. Before that, it is all tegezés, which is... |
| Simone:using the informal language. I see. Do I sound rude if I don’t find the right form? |
| Csaba:I’d say that as a foreigner who is clearly making an effort to speak correctly, you already deserve – and will receive – hero awards from all Hungarians. Besides, the informal language is gaining territory slowly. |
| Simone:Yes, but we’ll cover formality as well. Let’s go to vocab now. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Csaba:The first thing we learn is csókolom. This greeting is reserved for elderly ladies. Normally, guys of any age can use this. |
| Simone:Can I use it? |
| Csaba:Sure, girls say this to old ladies too, but when women get out of their thirties, they stop using it and start receiving it more. |
| Simone:But guys? |
| Csaba:Men can use this even when they themselves get older. Csókolom. It literally means “I kiss” and “your hand” is implied. |
| Simone:Say it again, like I was the old lady from your floor. |
| Csaba:Csókolom. Guys can also say kezit csókolom. This is even nicer, very old-school, very gentlemanly. It means “I kiss your hand.” |
| Simone:Repeat again. |
| Csaba:Kezit csókolom. |
| Simone:All right, what else for vocab? |
| Csaba:The old lady says kedveském. |
| Simone:“My dear.” |
| Csaba:Kedveském. The root word is kedves, to which we add -ke. Kedveske means “little dear.” |
| Simone:And one more step for the possessive... |
| Csaba:Kedveském. “My little dear.” Usually old ladies use this. |
| Simone:We also had “I wish” in there somewhere. |
| Csaba:Bárcsak is like “I wish” or “if only.” Conditionals are still a mystery at this point, but a couple of ready-made sentences should be handy. |
| Simone:How do you say: “Wish you were here...” |
| Csaba: Bárcsak itt lennél! |
| Simone:Very romantic... Again, please. |
| Csaba:Bárcsak itt lennél! |
| Simone:All right, one last example and then we will go to grammar. |
| Csaba:Bárcsak ne esne! |
| Simone:“If only it didn’t rain.” |
| Csaba:Bárcsak ne esne! |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Simone:In this lesson we’re going to learn how to talk to the elderly. |
| Csaba:Well, at least we’ll learn the grammar for that. |
| Simone:What is the key sentence we start from? |
| Csaba:A piacra tetszik menni? |
| Simone:“Are you going to the market?” |
| Csaba:A piacra tetszik menni? |
| Simone:How is this different from the ones we have covered before? |
| Csaba:We have inserted the word tetszik which means “like.” This is a special case of formality which is only used when talking to older people. Basically, you use tetszik and then add an infinitive. |
| Simone:Infinitives end in -ni, as you may remember. Let’s hear one more and explain. |
| Csaba:Mit tetszik kérni? |
| Simone:“What would you like to have?” |
| Csaba:Mit tetszik kérni? Mit is of course “what” in the accusative. Tetszik is the new auxiliary word used for this formal construction. Kérni is not a new thing, it means“to want, to ask for.” |
| Simone:All right. Anne also used another construction. |
| Csaba:The imperative: Tessék ideülni. |
| Simone:“Please take this seat.” |
| Csaba:Tessék ideülni. Tessék is the imperative form of tetszik, used in requests. Ideülni means “sit over here.” |
| Simone:Oh, so she is giving up her seat. |
| Csaba:Exactly. If you can’t really decide whether the person you’re addressing is old enough for the tetszik construction, don’t use it. |
| Simone:Yes, it could convey the message that you think they are old. |
| Csaba:Consequently, the first time you hear it from kids, you go NOOOOO!. |
| Simone:(laughs) |
| Csaba:Oh, well. Another expression that contains tessék is tessék parancsolni. |
| Simone:What does this mean? |
| Csaba:It means “’I’m at your service.” Literally it means “please give orders.” |
| Simone:So when an elderly person approaches you, you say... |
| Csaba:Tessék parancsolni. |
| Simone:All right. This all looks easy to use, you just have to remember a few verbs. |
| Csaba:Right. We may as well throw out the plural “you” in this construction. |
| Simone:When you are talking to more than one elderly person. |
| Csaba:Tessenek parancsolni. |
| Simone:Repeat again, please. |
| Csaba:Tessenek parancsolni. |
| Simone:Well, that does it for now. What are we going to talk about next time? |
| Csaba:One last lesson on being polite and after that, on to different material. |
Outro |
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| Simone:Sounds good! Until next time, bye everyone. |
| Csaba:Sziasztok! |
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