Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Simone:Hi everyone, and welcome back to HungarianPod101.com. This is Upper Beginner Hungarian, season 1, lesson 20 - Can People Really Change in Hungary? I am Simone.
Gergő:And I’m Gergő. Sziasztok!
Simone:In this lesson, we’ll go through some aspects of the imperative.
Gergő:The conversation takes place at the steakhouse.
Simone:It’s between Jenny and Tamás, her ex-boyfriend.
Gergő:The speakers know each other, so they’re using informal language.
Simone:Let’s listen to the conversation.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Simone:This guy is back to cause trouble, I can feel it.
Gergő:Don't worry listeners, she doesn't know the story. Won't spoil it for you.
Simone:I know a fraud when I hear one.
Gergő:Then you won't be fooled by the fake money-exchange guys in Budapest, which is a popular con to do at the train stations in Hungary.
Simone:Oh, really?
Gergő:The other popular con is the flirty supermodel who invites foreign guys out for drinks. What happens is that a suspicious barman will charge you a lot of money for drinks, and the security guys won’t let you leave without paying.
Simone:Wait, where do you meet the supermodel?
Gergő:Near touristy areas. It is amazing how dumb men can be. Everyone automatically believes that their charm just attracts the ladies, even despite the tennis shoes, mid-calf socks and shorts, camera around the neck.
Simone:It is amazing. 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. The first expression, very fittingly, is “to make a fool out of somebody.”
Gergő:Ne hülyíts!
Simone:“Don't think I'm stupid!”
or “Don't take me for a fool!”
Gergő:The literal meaning of hülyít is “make a fool out of somebody.”
Simone:You can accuse your friends of “making a fool” of you, when they state something outrageous or unbelievable. Another example, please.
Gergő:If the object of this verb is a female, the word can also mean woo.
Simone:It doesn't imply that women are taken for fools in Hungary, but describes the outrageous and exaggerating statements of some men during courtship. All right, a sentence with this, please Gergő.
Gergő:Ne hülyítsd a lányokat!
Simone:“Stop wooing girls!”
Gergő:Ne hülyítsd a lányokat!
Simone:All right, what else?
Gergő:Megjavul means that some object “becomes better” or “returns to its normal state” without actual effort.
Simone:It is kind of hard to translate into English. Let's say your computer is broken, but two days later it magically works again.
Gergő:You say: Megjavult a számítógép.
Simone:“The computer works again.”
Gergő:If you are talking about yourself, there is of course effort involved, but you can still use the verb to describe the action. Megjavultam, már nem iszom.
Simone:“I became a better person, I no longer drink.”
Gergő:Megjavultam, már nem iszom.
Simone:Alright, one more for the road please.
Gergő:Komolyan is used like “seriously” in English.
Simone:“Seriously, what time will you get here?” What’s that in Hungarian?
Gergő:Komolyan, hányra jöttök?
Simone:Okay, now onto the grammar.
GRAMMAR POINT
Simone:In this lesson, we’ll review the imperative. You may have noticed that the imperative conjugation in Hungarian is a headache. There are three types of verbs that conjugate differently, and the imperative is used in a wide variety of situations and functions.
Gergő:This is why we need to recap the basics, before we can do more complicated stuff in the next lesson. Now, the first example from the dialogue was Ne ülj le!
Simone:“Don't sit down.”
Gergő:Ne ülj le! From the point of view of conjugation, there are regular, -s, -sz, -z and -t verbs (in one group) and irregular ones.
Simone:There is a great table for you in the lesson notes; here we’ll give examples.
Gergő:Leül is the third person singular form of leülni or “to sit down.” This in second person indefinite imperative will become ülj le or üljél le. The negative “don't” is ne.
Simone:There were more of these regular ones.
Gergő:Csak egy percet adj! The base word is ad, or “give.”
Simone:“Just give me one minute.”
Gergő:Csak egy percet adj! And finally, Járjunk megint!
Simone:“Let's date again.”
Gergő:Járjunk megint! The base verb here was jár or “walk,” “go out.”
Simone:There were some irregular verbs too. The conjugation of irregular verbs have to be memorized individually. What’s an example?
Gergő:Ne legyél agresszív!
Simone:“Don't be aggressive.”
Gergő:Ne legyél agresszív! Now, two examples include verbs that end in a -t and -s.
Simone:The general rule for these verbs is that the -j sound from the table we mentioned assimilates to the last consonant of the base verb. Put simply, you double the last consonant.
Gergő:The example was Ne keress engem kérlek!
Simone:“Don't look for me please.”
Gergő:Keres in second person would normally be “keresj” but this is an -s verb, which means that instead of keresj you say keress.
Simone:Exactly, double the consonant. What’s the last one?
Gergő:Ne hülyíts!
Simone:“Don't take me for a fool.”
Gergő:An -ít verb, which means that the -j sound of the conjugation - see the table again - will become a -s. Ne hülyíts!
Simone:We know conjugation tables are not too much fun, but with a bit of practice it will be easy soon.

Outro

Gergő:Practice is what you should do. All right, that's enough of us now, until next time, sziasztok!
Simone:Thanks for listening, bye!

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