Mini language lesson #23: Peculiar Hungarian sentences
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In this episode, we are going to cover the topic of Hungarian palindrome sentences, which is another proof of the peculiarity of our language. Why not live with the chance and spice up your speech with phrases that read the same backward and forward? 😉
Palindromes belong to the group of wordplays, more precisely anagrams. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a palindrome is a word or group of words that is the same when you read it forwards from the beginning or backwards from the end, e.g. refer, level.
Palindrome words are common in many languages, but what makes Hungarian special is that our language is so complex and flexible at the same time that we can create entirely sensible sentences (and also funny ones) that read the same backwards.
The articulation of letters do not have to match, and sometimes even the different accents do not count.
This is a fun approach to the Hungarian language, which does not make it any less difficult but proves how magical and playful it can be 🙂
Keep in mind that we are not linguists in any way, we’re just as dazzled by the curiosities of the Hungarian language as foreigners are. So this series doesn’t aim to explain the etymology of words, it’s more of a fun take on our language. We try to bring Hungarian closer to you with witty learning cards made by Daily magyar, a language-enthusiast person, whose posts give an insight into the complexity of Hungarian grammar. But don’t worry, it’s all done in an easy-going way so that it can make learning fun.
It seems like we are not the only ones fascinated by the Hungarian language, among others, zoom.hu shared a similar article some time ago. The following sentences are based on their collection, which we decided to pump up a bit.
Géza, kék az ég – Géza, the sky is blue
Indul a görög aludni – The Greek goes to sleep
Csak a mama makacs – It is only mama, who is stubborn
De ne sebesen edd! – But do not eat it fast!