"Jó éjszakát kívánok!"
Translation:Good night!
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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!
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.
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As far as languages go, Dutch is relatively easy to learn, though in my case, I have the advantage of being a native speaker in both English and French and also have basic knowledge of German, so maybe that's why I've found it much easier to grasp. Also, even though I worked in Amsterdam, I spent more time in the south (Limburg) and found that their accents are softer and easier to understand than those towards the north of Holland (that was just my experience, it's probably not the same for everyone).
Hungarian on the other hand is on a whole different level for me, but then again, it is one of the hardest languages to learn for English speakers but I like the challenge =D
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...
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...)
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?
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.
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
ch, tch, sh, gh... "owe" (like in IOU). ;) But you are right. Every language has their approach that may be difficult for others. The Hungarian notation is really strange and I say this as a Hungarian myself. It is almost on level with Cymraeg (Welsh) that is fairly logical and consistent, but a real pain to learn.
As far as I understood well, Duolingo's structure is designed with Indo-European languages in mind. It was hard even to adapt to Celtic languages like Cymraeg, and it took ages to adapt to Hungarian. The structure is very different, and there are many more things to teach while the language trees must be within certain bounds. The developers of the Hungarian tree had to start over to adapt a different approach than the original tree structure was designed for, and even so they had to cram many things into the given frame. I have to admit that everybody's right who complain about the difficulty, but as far as I know this difficulty level is necessary to fulfil the DL requirements.
Just imagine how difficult would be a Chinese or Arabic course, with their completely alien tones, sounds and structures. As you "fiercely" stand for the ease of French pronounciation and say that the Hungarian phonetics is difficult, you just examining a problem from a single side. I can assure you that for us Hungarians, French is a real pain. I think we face the same old trouble from different sides :D (With all the respect and due admiration to French language and culture.) Saying one language is difficult and the other is easy is always assume an etalon, usually the mother tongue of the person. ;) For an Arab speaker the arabic is easy and completely logical while for me it is something that cannot do without the Philosophers' Stone :D
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You are totally right, if You want to translate this sentence word by word, then it is "I WISH (you) 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
*"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!
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holaaa,,,! he esperado! ayer tuve un sueño, y soñé que se abrió el curso de húngaro :D
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
Also guys, don't stress out about the word! Unless you want to move to hungry for the rest of your life and have to write it everyday, make it your goal to only speak it, not write it! Plenty of people can live in hungry or visit it with just speaking it. The words in Hungarian LOOK hard, but honestly, this sentence flows through the brain so easily.that remembering is a snap!
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.......
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The word 'kívánok' means roughly "I wish you'. The greeting using that word is more formal.
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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'.
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. ;)
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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".
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?
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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.
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
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!
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.
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Literally "kívánok" is "I wish you". So it's the difference between "good night" and "I wish you a good night". The latter is more formal in both languages.
The points above were covered on this page four years ago. Have you had a chance to look through the comments?