Magyar News, 1992. szeptember-1993. augusztus (3. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1992-12-01 / 4. szám

HOW DO YOU SAY IT IN HUNGARIAN?

LESSON FIVE

Before we start using the dictionary we will make acquaintance with the verbs. Just like in the English, they show what tense they are - present, past, future, or other finer definitions. There is a basic difference though, that is in the English you have to use a pronoun to make it known who is in action. In the Hungarian you don’t have to because the endings, just like any suffix, tells it all. Shaping the verb in conjugation is like doing it with a noun.

TO SIT in Hungarian is ÜLNI.

Present tense is SIT, in Hungarian ÜL.

Present tense first person is I SIT, in Hungarian ÉN ÜLÖK. But you don’t have to use the pronoun EN because the suffix - OK refers to the first person. So the present tense would be:

In English ISIT YOU SIT HE, SHE, IT SITS WE SIT YOU SIT THEY SIT

is in Hungarian

ÜLÖK

ÜLSZ

ÜL

ÜLÜNK

ÜLTÖK

ÜLNEK

As we learned with the suffixes, the connecting vowel changes according to the pitch of the vowel in the basic word. -ÖK could be -EK, or -OK. Let us give it a try.

I SIT is ÜL-ÖK, but I DARE is MEREK, I KICK is RUG-OK. The other persons are the same until you come to plural third. You said ÜL-NEK, but with RUG you say RUG-NAK.

For exercise, try some verbs: stand - ÁLL, live - ÉL, start - ELINDUL, carve - FARAG, look out - KINÉZ, throw away - ELDOB.

As you are thumbing through the dictionary, you will find words that have a slash in it. Like the word TO WORK is written DOLGOZ/IK. In the test that you are trying to translate was DOLGOZNAK, but this you can’t find. Since it is a verb you know that -NAK is third person in plural. This leaves you with the basic word DOLGOZ. This word is not in the dictionary. So you have to be satisfied with the word with a slash in it, DOLGOZ/IK. The dictionary always shows the verb in present tense, first person, singular. We didn’t have any problem with FARAG, it means “he, she, it” carves. On the other hand DOLGOZIK means “he, she, it” works. Those verbs you find in the dictionary with -/IK has a different conjugation. Let us set it up.

In English is in Hungarian

I WORK YOU WORK HE, SHE, IT WORKS WE WORK YOU WORK THEY WORK

DOLGOZ-OM

DOLGOZ-OL

DOLGOZ-IK

DOLGOZ-UNK

DOLGOZ-TOK

DOLGOZ-NAK

The conjugation in singular is different. The third group I want to talk about are the verbs thai are used more frequently. These

become irregulars. In English

is in Hungarian

I AM

VAGYOK

YOU ARE

VAGY

HE, SHE, IT IS

VAN

WE ARE

VAGYUNK

YOU ARE

VAGYTOK

THEY ARE

VANNAK

In English

is in Hungarian

I COME

JÖVÖK

YOU COME

JÖSSZ

HE, SHE IT COMES

JÖN

WE COME

JÖVÜNK

YOU COME

JÖTTÖK

we also hear JÖSZTÖK

THEY COME

JÖNNEK

Let us have one more example:

I GO

MEGYEK

YOU GO

MÉGY

HE, SHE, IT GOES

MEGY

WE GO

MEGYÜNK

YOU GO

MENTEK

THEY GO

MENNEK

Nobody said that you don’t have to study to learn Hungarian. If you do your homework properly for the first lessons, then you will be able to make the rest of the learning much easier.

BLACK MAGYARS

Reading up on Hungarian news in the Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, I came across an article that triggered some memories. Cúth János wrote about Hungarians, Magyars, who live in the Sudan. They are black Hungarians. * * *

I used to teach at the International School of Journalism in Budapest. Among others there were some black students. They were very friendly and whenever I ran into them in the street or on the bus, they came up to me, hugging me and making no secret about their affection. The strange thing about this was that they spoke Hungarian. After a half-a-year in intensive learning they picked up Hungarian with less of an accent than you may find among African-Americans when they speak English.

* * *

Another memory is from London, England. This situation was very different. This was about Hungarians treated as blacks. As you might know the pub owner in England has the right and discretion of a home owner on his own property. Anybody may go into the pub, but to be served is a whole different thing. So it happened that a small construction work-crew from a nearby building went to the comer pub to cool off with aglass of beer. They were Hungarians. One member of this crew used to have a shop with 40 employees in Újpest. His build was a bit short, with jet black hair and a tad high temperament.

The leader of the crew made head-count and ordered the amount of beer accordingly. The pub owner told him that he may sit with the others, but he does not serve blacks. The others burst out in laughter first, then they tried to convince the owner that our man is Hungarian and not African. The owner shrugged it off saying that he understands that he is Hungarian, but he is a black Hungarian therefore he will not be served. Well the other members of the ere w didn ’ t let their friend down and treated him outside of the pub with a drink of beer. * * *

Officially it was never brought up in Hungary that there are black Hungarians in the world till they started to build the Aswan Dam in Egypt. Though it was known decades before, but the Hungarian government nor any Hungarian organization paid no attention to it. Despite the fact that these people tried to establish contact for a long, long time. The original Hungarians got stuck in that area450 years ago. It is like the black Jews from Ethiopia. It takes time to surface, and somehow the whole idea doesn ’ t Fit into the groove that we know and

accept. Well this summer things happened in favor of the black Hungarians. Sándor Csoori, the president of the World Federation of Hungarians invited their representa- Tives. Sauki Mohiv and Suleiman Mohammed Suleiman took part in the Federation’s international convention. They came originally from an island called Jerizat ul Magyaráb and they were referring to themselves as magyari. During the 450 years living in Nubia the descendents of original Hungarian ’ s are black, though there are different variations of darkness, some of them are very light in color. The way we see it here in the states among the black population.

There is another comparison we could make. After450 years, 18 generations, these black Hungarians kept their pride in their Hungarian origin, kept their way of life, and insisted on making contact with the “Homeland.” How do we American Hungarians rank with our second, third and fourth generations?

In another article we will give a more detailed report on our relatives, the black Hungarians. Joseph F. Balogh

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