In my learning journal #3 I want to reflect a little bit more on my Hungarian grammar learning progress, more specifically on the past tense, in Hungarian - múlt idő. Chapter 4 in MagyarOK A2+ book is completely devoted to the past tense topic even though some of the basic explanations and rules came up earlier in the book. However, I believe that past tense in Hungarian is one of the most challenging grammar topics because of all the verb conjugations, various cases, and spelling complexities it involves in itself. Now, let’s dive a little deeper into this topic, and new rules that I have learnt in the past couple of weeks:
There are two main ways to form the past tense in Hungarian: definite conjugation and indefinite conjugation.
First, let’s look into the definite conjugation. This type of conjugation is used when the subject and the direct object of the sentence are known and specified.
- To form the past tense for regular verbs, you typically add a suffix to the verb stem according to the specific conjugation pattern. For example:
- “Szeret” (to love) → “Szeretett” (loved)
- “Ír” (to write) → “Írt" (wrote)
- Some verbs have irregular conjugations in the past tense, so you need to memorize their forms. For example:
- “Van” (to be) → “Volt” (was)
- “Megy” (to go) → “Ment” (went)
Secondly, indefinite conjugation is used when the subject or the direct object of the sentence is not known or specified.
- In indefinite conjugation, you typically add a different set of suffixes to the verb stem. For example:
- “Szeretni” (to love) → “Szeretett” (loved)
- “Írni” (to write) → “Írt” (wrote)
- Irregular verbs still have irregular conjugations in the indefinite past tense. For example:
- “Van” (to be) → “Volt” (was)
- “Megy” (to go) → “Ment” (went)
Thirdly, it is important to mention that the endings of the past tense forms change based on whether the subject is first, second, or third person, and whether it is singular or plural.
Below are the basic endings for regular past tense conjugation:
- First person singular: -tem/-tem
- Second person singular: -tél/-tél
- Third person singular: -ett/-ott/-ött
- First person plural: -tünk/-tünk
- Second person plural: -tetek/-tetek
- Third person plural: -ttek/-ttek
And for irregular verbs, you need to memorize their specific past tense forms as they don’t follow a regular pattern… That is what I am currently doing. It is a very interesting but at the same time very challenging topic. I hope you enjoyed learning about the past tense in the Hungarian language :) More to come!
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