"Hello, what is your name?"
Translation:Szia, hogy hívnak?
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Literally, they mean something like "How do they call you?" and "What is your name?", so they're both phrases used to inquire after a name.
Not only so, but it's used for both "hello" and "goodby." That gives native English speakers a jolt.
Not just native English speakers, "helló" as goodbye feels very wrong to me as well :)) Rather take csá for that xD
Loanword from German most likely, since it's "hallo" in German, and it's a co-official minority language, and well, the past union with a German speaking country.
Yes, it does. Usually it's used as a semi-formal greeting, for example when you are allowed to address an older person informally. "Szia" and especially "helló" can sound disrespectful in that case.
It's coming from the common Austrian German greeting and goodbye, "Servus," which itself is Latin and means, literally, [Your] servant. I suspect it came into common use during the Austro-Hungarian Empire days and has lingered.
Probably even earlier - don't forget that until 1844, Latin was the official language in Hungary so Austrian Latinisms were probably even more prevalent.
816
in this case wikipedia/wiktionary really is friend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servus https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/servus + duden: https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/servus (usage: besonders bayrisch, österreichisch)
and i know there is also szia and sziasztok (which has really nice etymology)
Szia! What's the difference between ''Hogy hivnák?'' and ''Téged hogy hivnák?'' and when use them? Koszi.
first of all, it should be hívnak. Hogy hívnak is rather context-bound regarding the pronoun while Téged hogy hívnak is explicit. In speech, we often prefer these contextual bindings, adding téged feels like a strong emphasis on you like "YES, I'm asking YOUR name indeed"
- 816
"Hello, what is your name?" another correct solution: Jó napot, hogy hívják?
but isn't it more formal? (i mean more than hello indicates in english?)
The Hungarian sentence is highly formal, that's for sure. The English sentence, well, I don't know, it seems to me the assumption is that one can also be formal. It's not my business to decide though.
"hogy hívják" can be formal as it implies adressing a third person - and formal speech constructions are all about that. Anyways, I'm gonna rework it so that it will be more consistent hopefully.
Because "hívjnak" doesn't exist, "hívják" (definite) and "hívnak" does. And what you mean by "why not use"? What do you want to use, what for, and then I may ask why you think you aren't allowed to... :)
Sorry, I meant "hívnak" -- fumble fingers. What I meant to ask is, why use the definite "hívják" when we have been asked for the indefinite "hívnak" all along? Is it because one is addressing a third-person and thus must use the definite conjugation?
For the formal you (ön, maga) we use third person conjugation - it is treated as third person grammatically
And if the object of a sentence is ő / ön /maga/ ők /önök /maguk, use the definite conjugation.
Hogy hívnak (téged)? - How do they call you? (informal singular)
Hogy hívják (őt)? - How do they call him/her?
Hogy hívják (önt)? - How do they call you? (formal singular)
are both of the solutions typical in everyday speech, or is one for or less formal than the other?
Which solutions do you mean? "Szia" and "helló"? Both are equally informal greetings.
shamarth, alas, i think i am confusing myself. i will have to go through the lessons again and find out what i was referring to. in the meantime, thanks for asking! and thanks for your attempt at my unclear question!
can anyone explain why we can't use "teged hogy hivnak" also? i picked both options and got it wrong
thank you
It would be more like a question back when someone already asked your name, since the emphasis is on the 'you' but i think it should still be accepted because it makes sense
we accept: Jó napot, hogy hívják? (formal greeting + formal What's your name)
and Szia, hogy hívnak? (informal greeting + informal What's your name)
Isn't "mi a neve" the formal form for "ön"? Can it not be used with "Jó napot"?
You are right. Let's list 4 options:
Szia, hogy hívnak? (informal)
Szia, mi a neved? (informal)
Jó napot, hogy hívják? (formal)
Jó napot, mi a neve? (formal)
Ok... Jó napot is a perfectly fine way to say hello, and mi a neved is a perfectly fine translation of what is your name. Jó napot, mi a neved should not have been rejected. Thanks.
But then you are mixing formal and informal so.... eeer... not that great.
"Jó napot, mi a neved?" is almost never used in real life. People who call each other "te"/"thee" (the informal "you") would almost never say "Jó napot" to each other except, perhaps, jokingly.
