Learning Hungarian – PART 5: the basics – numbers and time
Change language:
When learning a new language, you might be tempted to learn just funny or special phrases or those that you would need when travelling. However, if you are planning to have a deeper understanding of a different nation (even if you are just passing by), it is always good to have a grasp on the basics.
Being able to count and tell the time is useful in many situations, ranging from going to get lunch all the way to asking when your train leaves. In this part, we are going to go through the numbers and the basics of telling time since they are closely connected.
As usual, let us recap the basic pronunciation:
Numbers
Other important numbers:
10 = tíz
20 = húsz
30 = harminc
Counting from 10 to 29 is a little bit tricky: you have to take ‘tíz’, add ‘-en’ (similarly ‘húsz’ and ‘-on’) and then add the single number: 17 is ‘tizenhét’, 23 is ‘huszonhárom’.
Every tenth number from thirty upwards is conjugated: you take the single numeral and add either ‘-van’ or ‘-ven’. In the cases where the vowel is a diphthong, it becomes a monophtong, like in 40: ‘négy’ + ‘-ven’ = ‘negyven’.
40 = negyven
50 = ötven
60 = hatvan
70 = hetven
80 = nyolcvan
90 = kilencven
