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Hungarian vocabulary word question?
I'm trying to build my Hungarian vocubulary, and I'm very confused about a couple of things.
The phrase "I would like" gets translated as either "szeretném" or "szeretnék". Are both translations correct? Why does one word end in with -m and the other with -k?
The word "something" gets translated as either "valamit" or "valami". Are both translations correct? Why does one word end in with -t and the other does not?
And can you recommend any basic internet sites that would explain these things to a beginner like me?
Thank you!
1 Answer
- ?Lv 78 years agoFavorite Answer
I hope these pages start to help (I haven't been to this site before, but am familiar with Hungarian) and that you can find the 'latni' examples, which parallel the 'szeretni' ('to like/to love') that you used:
http://www.hungarianreference.com/verbs/
In short, both are correct.
Hungarian has what is called both the definite and indefinite conjugations on verbs - the -m form ending ('latnam' on this page, above) and the -k form ending ('latnek' on this page, above), RESPECTIVELY.
...And these two are for the first person sg. only. So verb endings are different for other persons, etc., as in many other languages (but not English--with one present-tense exception). This -m / - k ending choice (those two being for the 1st person sg. only) all has to do with how the OBJECT of the verb is considered a 'definite' or an 'indefinite' (=not specific) object. Interesting already, isn't it, the object affecting the verb that precedes it? ... But the verbs are actually very logical and not terribly more complicated than any other language's verb endings, in reality.
The -t IS the marker on the (DIRECT) OBJECT form (it's called 'accusative' on this page, above, when you look under 'Hungarian noun cases') of several things in fit that blank, including nouns, and pronouns of various forms like 'something', -- certain things (not all) which come after the verb as certain objects of the verb. Therefore, you get your 'valamit' that you found; 'valami' is the base (dictionary) form.
Hope the page helps; it seems to have a 'refresher' of most grammar terms in English, so that English speakers can sort things out. (English inflects noun forms and conjugates verb forms very little; many languages do so much more, so that English speakers sometimes need the terms for things that show *very little, if at all* in English... )
Source(s): http://www.hungarianreference.com/Nouns/