5. A diák a teremben tanul The -ban/-ben ending, vowel harmony, the verb to be, places in town

Pages 18-24 in the printed book

The -ban/-ben ending
Pages 18-19 in the printed book

	autó + ban (car+in)
Ez egy autó. (This is a car.) A rendőr az autóban ül. (The policeman is sitting in the car.)

 

Note: There are several distinctions in other languages that do not appear in Hungarian.  For example A gyerekek otthon ebédelnek. may mean both The children have lunch at home. or The children are having lunch at home., and the sentence above A rendőr az autóban ül. can be also translated as The policeman sits in the car. or The policeman is sitting in the car. depending on the context.

	ház + ban (house+in)
Ez egy ház. (This is a house.) A nő a házban telefonál. (The women is phoning in the house.)

 

	terem + ben (classroom+in)
Ez egy terem. (This is a classroom.) A diák a teremben tanul. (The student is studying in the classroom.)

 

	szekrény + ben (wardrobe+in)
Ez egy szekrény. (This is a wardrobe.) A kabát a szekrényben van. (The coat is in the wardrobe.)

 

Note: van is the third person form of the verb to be. In the previous units we only had sentences where the verb van (to be) did not appear in the third person (e.g. Mi ez? – What is this?, Ő angol. – He is English.) More explanation on this is included in this unit.

 

In the above examples you can observe the use of the -ban/-ben suffix, which is added to the words. Hungarian uses suffixes (endings) to express grammatical information and meaning. The meaning of the Hungarian -ban /-ben suffix corresponds to the English preposition in. Many suffixes have two or three versions. The following rules apply to the use of suffixes in general and also specifically to the use of -ban/-ben:

a) The endings must phonologically fit the vowels in the word – this is known as vowel harmony. The rules of vowel harmony will determine which ending should be used. We must distinguish two main groups of words:

Front vowel words contain only front vowels (e, é, i, í) and take the front vowel ending (-ben). A kabát a szekrényben van. (The coat is in the wardrobe.) A diák a teremben tanul. (The student is studying in the classroom.)

Back vowel words contain only back vowels (a, á, o, ó, u, ú) or both back vowels and front vowels and take the back vowel ending (-ban).  A rendőr az autóban ül. (The policeman is sitting in the car.)

So, mixed words that contain both back vowels and front vowels usually take the back vowel endings.

b) In case of compound words (like ásványvíz – mineral water) the last component determines which ending to use. In our example víz (water) is the last component and it contains a front vowel so the ending has to be the front vowel ending too (ásványvízben – in mineral water).

c) If -ban or -ben is added to a word that ends in -a or-e, then these word-final vowels will change (-a -- -á / -e -- -é).

tea -- teában (in tea)
körte -- körtében (in pear)

 

 

 

 

 

The use of van (is)

Page 20 and 22 in the printed book

The 3rd person form of the verb to be (van) is used when you speak about location and in some expressions.

The verb to be (van) is not used in the following sentences:

Milyen Kati? (What is Kati like?)
Kati magyar.(Kati is Hungarian.)
Kati szép. (Kati is beautiful.)

The following sentences tell us where Kati is therefore the verb to be (van) appears in them:

Hol van Kati? (Where is Kati?)
Kati itt van. (Kati is here.)
Kati az iskolában van. (Kati is in the school.)
Kati Bécsben van. (Kati is in Vienna.)

Some expressions which do not include any location but the verb van is used:

Hideg van. (It’s cold.)
Meleg van. (It’s hot.)
Nyár van. (It’s summer.)
Tél van. (It’s winter.)
10 óra van. (It’s 10 o’clock.)
Ma kedd van. (Today is Tuesday.)

Dialogue 1.
In this dialogue Edit, the shop assistant and Kati, the customer talk about the price of a pullover.

Edit eladó. Edit a boltban van. Kati is a boltban van. Pulóvert vásárol.                                                 – Ez a pulóver szép. Mennyibe kerül? – 16 ezer forint. Egy kicsit drága, de nagyon szép.	Edit is a shop assistant. Edit is in the shop. Kati is also in the shop. She’s buying a pullover. – This pullover is beautiful. How much is it? – 16 thousand forints. It’s a little bit expensive but it’s very beautiful.

Dialogue 2.
In this dialogue the teacher enters the classroom where she finds only one student, Jarmo. Jarmo tells the teacher wehere the other students are. Notes on dialogue 2:
- The teacher and Jarmo use formal language. When Jarmo addresses the teacher he calls her Tanárnő and uses third person forms. Tanárnő (for female teachers and professors) and Tanár úr (for male teachers and professors) are generally appropriate address forms in secondary schools and at universities too.

Jarmo finn. Jarmo a teremben van. 8 óra van, itt van a tanár. – Jó reggelt, Jarmo! – Jó reggelt, Tanárnő! – Csak Jarmo van itt? – Igen, csak én. – Hol van Anna? – Anna Németországban van.            – És hol van Alessandro, John és Kati? – Alessandro otthon van, mert beteg. John Sopronban van. – És Kati? – Nem tudom. Most jön Kati. – Elnézést a késésért. – Semmi baj.	Jarmo is Finnish. Jarmo is in the classroom. It’s 8 o’clock, the teacher is here. – Good morning Jarmo. – Good morning Professor. – Only you are here? – Yes, only me. – Where is Anna? – Anna is in Germany. – And where are Alessandro, John and Kati? – Alessandro is at home because he is sick. John is in Sopron. – And Kati? – I don’t know. Now comes Kati. – I’m sorry, I’m late. – No problem.

Dialogue 3.
In this dialogue the little Robi and his mum talk about some serious issues and than Robi suddenly changes the topic and asks for some chocolate.

Edit most otthon van. A kis Robi is otthon van. Robi négy éves gyerek. Edit és Robi beszélget. – Anya, mikor van karácsony? – Decemberben. – És mikor van húsvét?          – Áprilisban. – És mikor van nyár? – Júniusban, júliusban és augusztusban. – Kérek csokit.	Edit is at home now. The little Robi is also at home. Robi is a four-year-old child. Edit and Robi are chatting. – Mum, when is Christmas? – In December. – And when is Easter? – In April. – And when is summer? – In June, in July and in August. – I would like some chocolate.

 

Sentences with -ban/-ben and van

Page 21 in the printed book

 

Az üdítőben sok cukor van.(There is a lot of sugar in the soft drink. / There is a lot of sugar in soft drinks.)

Note: the word üdítő (soft drink) is used with a definite article (az – the). In Hungarian the noun is used with the definite article either to refer to one specific thing or to refer to one kind of thing in general. This sentence may refer to one specific soft drink or soft drinks in general, depending on the context.

Az üzletember a bankban van.(The businessman is in the bank.) Varsó Lengyelországban van. (Warsaw is in Poland.) A kávéban két cukor van. (There are two sugars in the coffee.)

Note: there are two words for two: kettő and két. There is no difference between them in meaning but két can be used only as an attribute (before the noun).

Az orvos a kórházban van. (The doctor is in the hospital.) Kati Helsinkiben él. (Kati lives in Helsinki.) A diák az iskolában van. (The student is in the school.) Sydney Ausztráliában van. (Sydney is in Australia.) A nő az autóban ül. (The woman is sitting in the car.) A kép a könyvben van. (The picture is in the book.) A gyerek a házban van. (The child is in the house.) William a parkban fut. (William is running/jogging in the park.) Edit most Kölnben van. (Edit now is in Cologne.) A gyerek a moziban ül. (The child is sitting in the cinema.) A könyv a táskában van. (The book is in the bag.) New York Amerikában van. (New York is in America.)

 

Hol van a tanár? (Where is the teacher?)

Page 22 in the printed book

In these minidialogues we are practising:
- questions with question words (Mi? – What? and Hol? – Where?)
- sentences in third person, which clearly show us where the verb to be (van) appears and where it doesn’t. Sentences like Ez egy iskola. (This is a school.) don’t contain van, while A tanár az iskolában van. (The teacher is in the school.) says that something or somebody is somewhere (location) and therefore van is included.

– Mi ez? – Ez egy iskola. – Hol van a tanár? – A tanár az iskolában van.	– What is this? – This is a school. – Where is the teacher? – The teacher is in the school.

– Mi ez? – Ez egy szekrény. – Hol van a könyv? – A könyv a szekrényben van.	– What is this? – This is a wardrobe. – Where is the book? – The book is in the wardrobe.

– Mi ez? – Ez egy bank. – Hol van István? – István a bankban van.	– What is this? – This is a bank. – Where is István? – István is in the bank.

Note: names are usually not used with articles. (It is not correct but in spoken language you may hear it)

– Mi ez? – Ez egy autó. – Hol van Kati? – Kati az autóban van.	– What is this? – This is a car. – Where is Kati? – Kati is in the car.

– Mi ez? – Ez egy kollégium. – Hol van Gábor? – Gábor a kollégiumban van.	– What is this? – This is a hall of residence. – Where is Gábor? – Gábor is in the hall of residence.

Note: kollégium sounds like college but it is actually a hall of residence where students live

– Mi ez? – Ez egy mozi. – Hol van a gyerek? – A gyerek a moziban van.	– What is this? – This is a cinema. – Where is the child? – The child is in the cinema.

– Mi ez? – Ez egy bolt. – Hol van Anna? – Anna a boltban van.	– What is this? – This is a shop. – Where is Anna? – Anna is in the shop.