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Is sört considered in the accusative case here because it's the (direct) object of the sentence? If so, do most nouns take a "t"?
Both are widely usable. But "szeretnék kérni" is a bit too long, isn't it? Especially after a few.
So, let's cut the suffix "-nék" from "szeretnék" (that is the "would" part), and fix it to the end of the root of "kérni":
"kér-nék"
We can throw away the rest.
Oh, and we need to replace the English "a" with the number "five". Here is the result:
Öt sört kérnék
Much better now.
It is relatively easy. The direct object of a sentence gets the accusative case.
I want beer
I eat bread
I love you
The objects above in bold get the accusative case.
In Hungarian, it means a "-t" suffix. But if the word ends in a consonant, there may be a buffer vowel in-between, that harmonizes with the word. Sometimes the word itself ends in a "t", it still gets one more "t", with a buffer sound:
sör - sört
víz - viz-e-t
bor - bort
szék - szék-e-t
lámpa - lámpát
bot - bot-o-t
láb - láb-a-t
toll - toll-a-t
Stb.
I just want to add one small detail:
If the word you're making accusative ends in either "a" or "e," it is always lengthened to "á" or "é." This isn't just for accusative either; this is for any ending you may add.
kutya -- Látom a kutyát.
csécse -- Akarok egy csécsét.
Absolutely. You may have wanted to say "csésze" and "csészét". "Csésze" is something that you drink your espresso from. It means a few other things, as well. "Csécse" pedig a village in Hungary. :)
And one more:
kabát - kabát-o-t
Although accusative with personal words is completely different.
Te - Téged (not tet or tét :) )
I just...sört kérek...acceptable too? I don't mean for this lesson, but in general in Hungarian.
Nope! I didn't include the article and it was correct. ^_^ My exact answer was: I would like beer, please.
I answered "I want beer", is it because I didn't add the article "a" to make it a complete English sentence?
It's actually because it should be "I would like beer". If it were "Sört kérek" then you could say "I want beer," but because it's "szeretnék kérni" you have to say "would like". It has nothing to do with the article; it's correct to both include and omit it. ^_^
I think it's a bit odd that to translate this as "I would like a beer" is okay, but if this were the exact same phrase but with wine, then "I would like a wine" is incorrect and you have to say 'I would like wine'. Is that because it's not a correct phrase in English?
Because it's used with the helping verb szeretnék.
szeretnék - I would like
szeretnék kérni - I would like to ask for
We use the infinitive the same way in English.
It's just being translated idiomatically. The literal meaning is "I would like to ask for a beer", but it's more realistically translated into English as simply "I would like a beer."
Technically it is "I would like to ask for a beer." but it is idiomatic to say "I would like a beer." In English, "to have a beer" is "to drink a beer" and "to have dinner" is "to eat dinner", so that would be a different verb.
This is the most formal way of asking a beer and the translation is not entirely correct. It would be: "I would like to ask for a beer". This can also be expressed more easily and in a beginner course you might just shoot for easier expressions :)
"Sört kérek" (lit.: I ask for beer), "Szeretnék egy sört" (lit: I would like a beer), "Sört kérnék" (lit.: I would ask for a beer)
Generally if you put 'kérek' everything will become acceptable from the politeness point of view :) If you use conditionals it is even more polite.
