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- Topic: Hungarian >
- "Jó éjszakát kívánok!"
127 Comments
16
It's been so long, I'm just glad it actually made it into beta. Thank you all the team for your hard work! And especially Andersberny for making the announcements far more frequently!
- 918
You'd better to remember it to recognize when heard, but say simply "yo 8" (jó éjt!) which is completely acceptable in any circumstances, both formal and informal. (The "yo 8" or even "yo8" ortographies are often used in internet chats and texting by the youth. But never write it this way outside those environments ;) )
A bit of explanation: éjszaka "night" is more like "nighttime" in English, but it is more frequently used. In this context "-szaka" is "of period" —you will meet this with the seasons where the season itself is "a period of the year", e.g. "évszak" (but this is never *"évszaka"). "Éj" as night is considered as poetic now, but it is completely valid. It is used in compounds mainly, and "jó éjt" is one of them that is completely acceptable.
It's way too difficult for a beginner. Thank you for the explanation. They should add it in the course! When you click on the words!
The more I read your comments, the easier it becomes for my new language skills. I do appreciate the fact that explanation follows. Thank you ALL for making this lessons better than programmed. EFR
- 717
Welcome to reality :) I am living a few kilometers from Hungary and hungarian language is for me harder than any other I have ever tried to understand. Including Dutch, Welsh and Korean for example.
Hungarian is probably very difficult, so they should introduce new words one by one, not several at once.
Is Dutch so hard to understand then? (I am Dutch, so I have no clue how it sounds to foreigners).
Dutch is easy for a native Norwegian speaker that also knows English. Dutch seems like just a mixture of those two, and when written I can understand most of what people mean after learning a few basic words.
I hope they'll change the difficulty level. They introduce too quickly new very long word. They should begin with "a", "little", "the", "girl" or word like that. And when you click on the word, it's not very well explained. You have to memorize the full sentence without understanding. Please, change that, I know this course is in beta, so I hope...
- 43
Yes, sometimes it's hard for the hungarian people too. Actually I am hungarian so I know it. :)
as a hungarian native, i would suggest this to be shortened to "jo ejszakat". "kivanok" is quite polite :)
It would be a lot easier to memorize too!! This course is too difficult for real beginner!
Already on the basics on the Hungarian course and it looks so hard to spell the words :P
- 330
polish spelling is a little tricky in terms of learning the diacritical symbols, but it is very straightforward and makes sense once understood.
- 918
Oh boys, come on, Hungarian is almost as phonetic as Italian, Spanish or Cymraeg. Tricky spelling is an English and French feature. You just have to get accustomed the lettering, like in Welsh. Then it is almost fully predictable and easy, except when it isn't... (I think Welsh has lot of similarities in this aspect...)
Maybe predictable, but they should familiarize us with the pronounciation first.
- 330
i agree, english and french are tricky. i would add irish. lots of letter combinations. i will clarify my comment on polish. it is predictable, and only tricky in the sense of learning diacritical symbols, but other than that, it certainly is straightforward.
As a French speaker, I find French very logics when you know the letter combination, when you know the rules for silent letters.
- 28
Yeah. That is what I like from Hungarian. French, oh my. That's why I'm not learning French and feel like don't want to learn it. Haha. English is better than French though.
If you think French is difficult then there is hope. I find French so very easy. It is like English pronounced drunk.
French is very logical, especially if you already know English, with a good method, French is easy.
French is one of the "mother" of English language. You have more than 50% of the word that are indeed French words but pronounced the English way and that became English words. If you speak English, you use French words everyday. When you talk about a "menu", a "restaurant", or any other thing. All the word ending with "tion" for instance, are French words, all the words ending with "ty" in English, are from French words, and you simply transform the "ty" into "té" to have the origin French word. When you know the tricks, it's so easy.
I would recommend any person who is in love with the English language, to learn French, as it gives a deeper understanding of the English language. For instance "restaurant" is called like this because it comes from a French verb meaning "eating to recover one's force" (se restaurer), very interesting, isn't it?
That's because those languages are based off of sounds and symbols of others. Hungarian is not. It is a language on its own, making it a little bit more difficult than most.
Many European languages have common roots and that makes their pronunciation and grammar at least similar. Hungarian has nothing to do with any commonly learned European languages like English, French, German, Spanish, Italian etc... The only one somewhat similar is the Finnish language. We did take some words from other languages, but pronunciation and grammar is very different.
Don't worry too much about sounds, try German, when drunk... it is a lot easy. Hungarian seems to be the type "take it by the horns" drilling and you will master it in the least expected time. The Latin roots (vowel sounds) make it light to guide yourself, try it slow and you will sound like a native.
- 918
A friend told me an interesting thing and maybe she's right. She told me Italian has a very similar wovel set as Hungarian (except ö, ő, ü, ű). If you master the Italian, you may give a try to form the Hungarian wovels like in Italian. Even consonants are almost similar but there you should consider some French influence and not only German :D
I think the issue comes with the speaking of the words, as Hungarian has letter combos that produce 1 sound. This doesn't happen in English.
Wouldn't this be "I wish you good night" and not "good night". I wish you good night should be an accepted translation
You are totally right, if You want to translate this sentence word by word, then it is "I WISH (you) good night"
what's the literal meaning of this? It seems there is more than good night
Jó = Good, éjszakát = Night, kívánok = I wish,
The sentence seems incomplete, because part of it is implied. In Magyarul a wish for something is directed at someone.
For example this greeting might be directed towards you (second person singular) Jó éjszakát kívánok neked ; neked - to you
Or directed towards a group (second person plural)
Jó éjszakát kívánok nektek; nektek- to you (plural)
Or if you want to be greedy with your wishes, you could direct this at yourself! :D Jó éjszakát kívánok nekem; nekem- to me
Hope this helps
- 918
*"Jó éjszakát kívánok nekem" is actually wrong, we use a reflexive structure here. It would be "jó éjszakát kívánok magamnak" ("Good evening I wish to myself" [I followed the Hungarian word order here to make it easier to follow])
Another thing: *"In Magyarul" is a bit strange. It is either "In Magyar" or "Magyarul" because the -ul ending is for the "in". ;)
But your explanation is fine and I think it is also helpful. Have a lingot!
Hey HalbDeutschMann, what a what a coincidence, I have German heritage, too. :D Proud of both sides, too. :D
as a native hungarian speaker, i'd say this is a bit too formal for everyday use. i would suggest just using "jó éjszakát" or even just "jó éjt" if you're feeling colloquial
- 918
It's more a style question. I am native speaker, too, living in Hungary, and I use the full version frequently. But except "jó éjt" any version is okay even in formal use. Don't hesitate to use the shorter ones!
- 1043
holaaa,,,! he esperado! ayer tuve un sueño, y soñé que se abrió el curso de húngaro :D
Just to help anyone having trouble with this: Jó = Good, éjszakát = night, and kívánok = I wish. Jó éjszakát kívánok = I wish you good night :)
I think no - "good evening" is a greeting used at nighttime (in HU: jó estét) whereas "Jó éjszakát kívánok!" would be said as a farewell
Jó éjszakát: good night, jó estét: good evening. The word "kívánok" (I wish) should not be used always, it isn't obligatory. In everyday speech is rarely used, it is more polite form.
Don't PANIC!
To save breath the greeting is shortened.
Jó éjszakát kívánok neked ! Jó éjszakát kívánok ! Jó éjszakát !
Think of it like the old English phrase.
"Good night to you"
shortened simply to
"Good night"
The 'implied you' doesn't need to be said, because the person your talking to understands you are addressing them.
Oh dear... if THIS is just "Good night"... HELP! Heehe. Anyway, being serious now, I'd like to ask: is the pronunciation of the long vowels correct as we hear them here, or am I hearing long vowels were there aren't? And, the a without the accent is pronunced like a closed a, while de á is open (that's what I hear). If this is true, does it work the same for all vowels? Thanks! Szia!
Lol :) I can imagine how strange is our language for someone with other mother tongue...
But the pronunciation of the example sentences are perfect on this page. Here you can listen to the Hungarian pronunciation of the letters: https://youtu.be/JwtwZTRDvYI?t=23
Here is a short helpful video about the Hungarian greetings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-NIOJ62hzg
- 918
You can use them in any situations, both formal and informal. It is totally acceptable to leave the most honoured person with this farewell and also suitable for say good night to your closest buddy.
I am pleased to practice my Hungarian for my trip soon, good luck to everyone learning this language as well.
- 918
Not really. It is more polite though but it is completely safe to omit even in very formal circumstances.
- 918
Yes, there is a rule of thumb. If you reply to the question "what quality" then say "jó"; when your question is "how" then say "jól".
"Jó" ("rossz", "nagy", "magyar", etc.) are qualities while "jól" ("rosszul", "nagyon", "magyarul", etc) are methods.
I could have looked up their official name but I always mix them up and it is easier to memorize I think. :D
- 918
Nagyon szívesen! :D Mit iszunk? ;)
It is a funny customs in certain subcultures to ask about alcoholic drinks after a minor help or co-operation—or when one acknowledges that the other was right. ("Igazad van! Mit iszunk?") Don't use it in formal situations but you may give a funny little surprise among close friends if you crack this :D Perhaps they will offer some pálinka!
So this has multiple meanings? Good night would be without kÍvánok, and I wish you good night is with it added?
The meaning is the same for both sentences.
The i wish you part is implied:
Jó éjszakát kívánok neked !
Jó éjszakát kívánok !
Jó éjszakát !
The t at the end of éjszakát indicates that it is the object receiving the action of a verb.
The conjugated verb being kívánok in this case.
I have the feeling it only gets harder from here...
Also, should "goodnight" be accepted too?
- 918
That is actually wrong, "jó" means "good". (I think you got it but I mention to not confuse others who just meet my language.) :D
Hi! I wanted to ask what is the difference between "jó eszakàt" and "jó eszakàt kivanok"? What does kivanok change in the sentence and when is it used? ^^
- 183
The word 'kívánok' means roughly "I wish you'. The greeting using that word is more formal.
kivanok to me thru usage with my parents means friends...like english in south is everybody.????good night everyone....
- 183
I'm glad you have warm memories of your usage with parents. However, 'kívánok' is not a noun meaning 'friends'. It is a verb. The infinitive form is 'kívánni'. The -ok is the first-person ending used on many Hungarian verbs. The word means 'I wish'.
- 918
I am not sure that I understood pnewberry well, so I may be wrong here. But 'Kívánok! is a lower class abbreviation of the actual greetings that simply omits the part of the day. It is very informal and obsolete but one may hear it in certain communities. There is no good to follow their example. ;)
It has the "good I wish" expression in kivanok. What if it was just Jo ejszakat?
- 183
In the Hungarian expression, the word 'jó' means 'good'. The word 'kivanok' means 'I wish'. (You can also wish a person bad things, both in English and Hungarian.)
"Jó éjszakát" means "good night".
How am I supposed to remember how to spell that? You is a cat Kivan, ok? Jo ejs-za-kat kivan-ok? Talk about being thrown into the deep end...
- 918
I am afraid you may have to memorize it. Hungarian phonetics is a bit tricky but highly logical, just as Cymraeg/Welsh or Italian or Spanish. Or Polish—we have special letter combinations like "sz" and "zs" or "ty" (they count single letters!) that you must care with special attention. But Hungarian phonetics are WAAAAY easier than English.
On the other hand, Hungarian language has very different structures and it is more complex so this is absolutely the top of the surface ;)
Hungarian is really hard. I'm only a little fluent in Spanish and I just started French and Czech on this app the other day but I picked Hungarian because 23andMe said my twin brother and I are more Eastern European than we thought. Should I maybe try a different language before I get deeper into Hungarian?
- 183
I started learning Czech and Hungarian at the same time. Czech is my first Slavic language, and even though it is Indo-European, it is harder for me than the Hungarian.
I find the Hungarian words easier to remember, and I find it easier (as a speaker of American English) to reproduce the sounds of Hungarian than those of Czech.
Moreover the fact that Czech has genders (four if you count masculine animate and inanimate separately), and that both adjectives and nouns must be declined for case, but do not follow the same patterns, adds to the complexity of Czech.
I suggest you stick with Hungarian. Once you get used to the Hungarian spelling conventions, it is easy to read, and to write what you hear.
3-10-2010..Yes,the language is difficult to learn, but easy to remember. It is not derived from the Latin,like other languages. Finnish is about the closest...Best way to pick it up is to try to find someone who is fluent and converse daily..i.e.phone,person..etc.Listen to Hungarian music...you may use a CD and dance a 2 step30min. program ..try singing with it... keep learning light....dont get frustrated...have fun with it...Sisi(Austrian/Hungarian Empress and Queen,was fluent with the language...Emporer husbandFranzJoseph..could not handle.. Hang in there and keep going.Pacsika naney.......
Yes you can! Like everything new, it takes time and effort...I, too am Magyar ..and as a child soaked up alot from parents and family...but did not retain...but now,
I find that even thoI will never be fluent,I can enjoy bee ing with Hungarian people...take in fall church festivals,etc.,its lke being home again.Youwillfind yourself understanding their conversations and just saying igen,,nem, nodding your head, just dont giveup! Just like you learned to walk ....and there are different dialects too,depending where the people are from.
just like New York,Alabama etc...You can do it! Itsup toyou....PaczikaNany.
