Beverages

Beverages are always important and while a bottle of wine or beer looks like a bottle of wine or beer, on a menu there aren't any pictures.

gyümölcslé - juice this comes from the word gyümölcs - fruit
víz - water
bor - wine
sör - beer
tea - tea  - while spelled the same the Hungarian word is like tae-a
tej - milk

Szia!

Today: hat, hát, hét

I thought I would use three small words today to show how easy it can be to use the incorrect word just based on pronouciation. The words are:
 

hat - six

hát - back

hét - seven

Early on I had diffuclty with "a" and "á" sounds. With "é" I had to throw out instinct since it is pronounced like a long "a" in English. When I would practice numbers I would count "one, two, three, four, five, back, may (as in -het)...

Now I have gotten much better at pronouncing these words and count correctly.

Szia!

Beszéljen magyarul velem. - Speak to me in Hungarian.

Beszéljen magyarul velem. formal
Beszélj magyarul velem. - informal

This is a phrase that I have to remember. Speak to me in Hungarian.

It is very easy for me to fall into English when in Hungary. When we arrived at BUD I had every intention of asking for two seven day travel passes in Hungarian. When it was my turn to step up to the counter the gentleman asked "What would you like?" Yep, English. I responded in English.

In the center of Budapest it is very easy to not speak Hungarian. I think what happens is that people will hear me conversing with John in English and automatically speak to us in English.

When I have been able to start speaking Hungarian I find people are willing to let me stumble and speak slowly. You can see the patience in their faces and many will help and correct as I go.

So I will keep trying and keep "Beszéljen magyarul velem".

Szia!

Today's Word: jó

Jó - a short word but a very useful word.

 

jó = good

 

In greetings:

jó reggelt: good morning

jó napot:  good day

jó estét:  good evening

jó éjszakát: good night

 

When asked: Hogy vagy? - How are you?
Köszönöm, jó - Good thank you.

 

What other common uses of jó are there?

 

Szia.

Todays Word is for fun.

I wanted to take a break from my normal word or phrase of the day so todays word is:


Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért


Wikipedia defines it as: "for your [plural] continued behaviour as if you could not be desecrated"


Google translate didn't.


Listen to it being said on YouTube


Szia!

Word of the day: gyönyörű

It seems like I hear this word a lot when listening to Hungarian. What does it mean?


gyönyörű - beautiful


This makes sense when discussing many aspects of Hungarian. The question I have is: is szép interchangeable? Both mean beautiful. Are both of the following correct?


Magyar szép.


Magyar gyönyörű.


Szia.

Phrase of the day

A very useful phrase I learned a few trips back thanks to Let's Learn Hungarian was "hol van a..." "where is the..." Steve and Györgyi first used it with Duna. "Hol van a Duna?" - "Where is the Danube?" I knew that would be useful but then they asked "Hol van a WC?" - "Where is the toilet?" and it stuck with me! One thing to remember is that "a" becomes "az" when the subject starts with a vowel: "Hol van az autó?" - "Where is the car?"


Szia.