The Imperative and Subjunctive Mood
The Imperative Mood
- The indicative mood indicates what is happening. - My friend is coming over to my place.
- The conditional mood depends on conditions to occur. - If he finishes his homework, then he can come over.
- The imperative mood commands people, it is imperative you do this. - Come over!
The imperative mood can be expressed by adding on -j before the verb conjugation unless it’s an irregular verb.
In some cases, the -j changes to fit the letter before it. For example, instead of nézjek we get nézzek. This applies to all verbs ending in z.
Here are some examples:
Format: indef. – def.
| Pronoun | Mond (regular conjugation) | Van/Lesz | Jön | Megy | Néz |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| én | mondjak–mondjam | legyek | jöjjek | menjek | nézzek–nézzem |
| te | mondj (mondjál)–mondd (mondjad) | légy (legyél) | gyere | menj (menjél) | nézz (nézzél)–nézd (nézzed) |
| ő | mondjon–mondja | legyen | jöjjön | menjen | nézzen–nézze |
| mi | mondjunk–mondjuk | legyünk | jöjjünk | menjünk | nézzünk–nézzük |
| ti | mondjatok–mondjátok | legyetek | gyertek | menjetek | nézzetek–nézzétek |
| ők | mondjanak–mondják | legyenek | jöjjenek | menjenek | nézzenek–nézzék |
See how for the most part, in the second person there is a short and a long way of conjugation. The difference is mostly stylistic, but in most cases the shorter form tends to be used.
Examples:
- Légy szíves! - Please! (lit. Be kind!)
- Maradjanak otthon! - Stay home!
- Na mondjad, mi újság? - So tell me, what’s up?
- Menj a szobádba! - Go to your room!
- Hagyd abba! - Quit it!
- Menjünk vissza. - Let’s go back.
Alex: Ma mit csináljunk? - (What should we do today?)
Barnabás: Menjünk az állatkertbe. - (Let’s go to the zoo.)
Alex: Jó ötlet. - (Good idea.)
Note: Mi újság is often shortened to mizu in casual speech.
Challenge!
Siessetek már, mert itthagynak! (Original image, merging free images together)
Hurry up (guys), because they’re leaving!
Listening
Gollam and Szméagol are talking, try to work out what they are saying! Taken from Lord of The Rings, The Two Towers (film).
Use of nouns
Hungarian makes the distinction between addressing someone (with imperatives) and specifying the action to do. The latter is achieved by using verbs that are formed into nouns using -ás,-és. You are more likely to hear this in the army and also when you change your device’s language to Hungarian, as options will be displayed this way.
- Futás! - (Run!)
- Visszahivás. - (Call back.)
- Az összes törlése. - (Delete all. lit. deletion of it all)
- Lövés! - (Shoot!)
The Subjunctive Mood
The Subjunctive mood expresses a wish or a suggestion. Nowadays (in English at least) it is rarely used, but still exists in some phrases.
- I wish it
waswere still in use. - She demands that he leave at once.
- God save the Queen.
In Hungarian, the subjunctive mood uses the same verb conjugation as the imperative, shown above. It is used to suggest, or as the structure x happens/happened so that y will/will not happen.
- Úgy legyen. - (So be it.)
- A célom az, hogy jó legyek. - (Lyric: My goal is to be good.)
- Bogi azt kéri, hogy ne kérdezz annyit. - (Bogi asks that you (should) not question so much.)
- Idehoztam, hogy megnézze, amit készítettél. - (I brought him/her here so that they could check out what you made.)
- Vizet kérek, hogy holnap ne legyek másnapos. - (I ask for water, so that tomorrow I don’t get a hangover.)
- Sokat kell tanulni ahhoz, hogy megtanulj egy új nyelvet - (You need to learn a lot, to learn a new language.)
Challenge!
Azért jöttem, hogy segítsek. (Original image, merging free images together)
I came to help
Yet to Learn
szükségdemonstrates one example of expressing need.azértinvolvesért, a noun case.
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