3 · Beginner · 12 minutes
Introducing yourself
By the end you can: Say who you are, where you are from, and that your Hungarian is still small.
Two patterns carry a whole first conversation.
… — "my name is". Literally "the name-my", because Hungarian marks possession with a suffix on the thing owned rather than a separate word. You will meet this properly later; for now just learn it whole.
…- / - — "from". This is your first case ending, and your first sight of the rule that shapes all of Hungarian grammar: vowel harmony. The suffix changes shape to match the vowels in the word it attaches to.
Words with back vowels (a, á, o, ó, u, ú) take -: → , → .
Words with front vowels (e, é, i, í, ö, ő, ü, ű) take -: → , → .
It is the same ending. Hungarian simply refuses to put a back vowel and a front vowel in the same word, so the suffix bends to fit. Nearly every ending you learn from here will come in two or three shapes for exactly this reason — which means learning the rule once replaces memorising hundreds of endings.
Finally, the most useful sentence a beginner owns: . "I only speak a little Hungarian." Say it early and people will slow down for you.