r/hungarian

There's this word my family uses that was introduced by my Hungarian grandfather, so I'm fairly certain it's Hungarian. I don't know how it's spelled but if I go by pronounciation it should be along the lines of "Balászcocó". It is the name of a kind of poltergeist or scapegoat, so if some small but annoying thing like for example soup stains on the wall are discovered at home and nobody admits to be responsible for it, we just say "The Balászcocó did it!"

I can't find anything about it on the internet and unfortunately I can't ask my grandfather about it anymore. So I'm curious if anyone is familiar with it or if it's just a creation of my Nagypapa. And in any case, can this name be translated literally in some way? Köszi!

Hello everyone!

I'm writing to ask if anyone has any recommendations for learning Hungarian from essentially 0 (apart from a few random phrases and words) to an intermediate level (around high B1 maybe B2), I'm open to youtube videos/online courses/apps etc.

My mother's side of the family is Hungarian, and many of them do not share any languages with me, so I would really like to make the effort to learn Hungarian. My aim isn't really to become totally fluent, but I'd like to be able to comfortably have simple conversations, discuss the events of my life, talk about family etc. So nothing super complicated, I'm not aiming for crazy intellectual discussions.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Köszönöm!

Edit: I'm planning to get speaking practice/some feedback with my mother (B2 level) and my bestfriend and grandmother (both native)

In the sentence "Nem kell fizetnie." ("You don't have to pay." / "He/She doesn't have to pay."), the word fizetnie breaks down like this:

· fizet = the verb stem meaning "to pay"

· -ni = the infinitive suffix (equivalent to English "to ___")

· -e = a possessive/personal suffix referring to a third-person possessor

So fizetnie literally means something like "his/her/its paying" — i.e., the infinitive with a personal possessive marker attached.

Why is it used here?

In Hungarian, after certain auxiliary-like words expressing necessity, obligation, or possibility — such as kell (must/need), lehet (may/can), szabad (allowed), tilos (forbidden) — the infinitive takes a personal ending that agrees with the subject of the sentence, rather than appearing in its bare dictionary form (fizetni).

So instead of:

· Nem kell fizetni. (also possible, more impersonal/general)

you get:

· Nem kell fizetnie. — where -e specifies that the obligation (or lack of it) applies to a particular third person (ő = he/she) or to a formal "you" (Ön).

Concretely:

Person Form Meaning

én fizetnem I don't have to pay

te fizetned you (informal) don't have to pay

ő / Ön fizetnie he/she/you (formal) don't have to pay

mi fizetnünk we don't have to pay

ti fizetnetek you (plural) don't have to pay

ők / Önök fizetniük they / you (formal plural) don't have to pay

So fizetnie = "for him/her to pay" / "his-her paying" — the infinitive carrying the third-person (or formal second-person) ending required by kell.

I’d like to get some feedback on my current Hungarian. I’ve been studying it inconsistently for a cuple of years now, so it’s definitely more on the bad side of learners. I had ups and downs and now it is time to stop with that.

I decided to cut the crap and recorder myself and document how bad it is now compared to how good (hopefully) it will become. Give me your completely unbiased opinion. Constructive criticism, as well as destructive, is more than welcome.

Köszönöm mindenkinek!

Hello! Apologies, I do not speak any Hungarian. I am a high school literature teacher in the US. My class is currently reading Abigail by Magda Szabó. My students are really enjoying the book, and we’d all like to make sure we are pronouncing names correctly while reading and discussing. Could anyone help guide me on the Hungarian pronunciation for these places and characters?

- Matula (the school)
- Mari Kis
- Torma
- Kőnig
- Kalmár
- Mitsi Horn

Thank you so much for any help!

https://preview.redd.it/k39jil6w1xsh1.png?width=1045&format=png&auto=webp&s=ab27ea9e5447882deae9cf1197136adb6278fb5d

Hello, can someone who attended magyar-iskola online course A1 and A2 can tell me what chapters are covered and which books? Is it whole MagyarOK A2+ book or just chapters from it?

Előre is köszönöm.