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The Conditional Mood

Up until now, we have been dealing with verbs in the indicative mood, i.e. verbs that indicate what is actually happening.

The conditional mood indicates what would happen if certain conditions are met. This can be seen all the time in English, with words like if and would.

  • I would go if I had more time.
  • Would you like to dance?
  • Where would you guys like to go?

Naturally, there is more conjugation to represent the conditional mood in Hungarian. Here is the front and back vowel harmony.

Pronoun Past indef. cond. Past def. cond. Present indef. cond. Present. def. cond.
én szerettem volna szerettem volna szeretnék szeretném
te szerettél volna szeretted volna szeretnél szeretnéd
ő szeretett volna szerette volna szeretne szeretné
mi szerettünk volna szerettük volna szeretnénk szeretnénk
ti szerettetek volna szerettétek volna szeretnétek szeretnétek
ők szerettek volna szerették volna szeretnének szeretnék
én <-> téged ----- szerettelek volna ----- szeretnélek

Csinál (he/she/it does/makes).

Pronoun Past indef. cond. Past def. cond. Present indef. cond. Present def. cond.
én csináltam volna csináltam volna csinálnék csinálnám
te csináltál volna csináltad volna csinálnál csinálnád
ő csinált volna csinálta volna csinálna csinálná
mi csináltunk volna csináltuk volna csinálnánk csinálnánk
ti csináltatok volna csináltátok volna csinálnátok csinálnátok
ők csináltak volna csinálták volna csinálnának csinálnák
én <-> téged ----- csináltalak volna ----- csinálnálak

Lesz (he/she/it becomes). Remember this is an intransitive verb so it only gets the indefinite conjugation!

Pronoun Past cond. Present cond.
én lettem volna lennék
te lettél volna lennél
ő lett volna lenne
mi lettünk volna lennénk
ti lettetek volna lennétek
ők lettek volna lennének

Notes:

  • The past tense conjugations of the conditional is identical to the indicative past tense conjugations + volna
  • Like what we have seen before, there are repeat appearances.
  • Sometimes you'll see repeat conjugations for different pronouns, as emboldened in the szeret table.
  • -lak,-lek as mentioned when talking about the definite and indefinite conjugation it isn't always applicable.

Some sentences

  • Szeretnél táncolni? - (Would you like to dance?)
  • Én a helyedben mindenképpen hallgatnék a barátaimra! - (If I were you I would definitely heed my friends!)
  • Álmaimban sem csinálnék ilyet! - (Not even in my dreams would I do such a thing!)

Én a helyedben is literally I in your place

The -ban,-ben is a locative case, this is covered here.

Challenge! muffin

- Ennék többet, de tele vagyok! (Image fetched from Tomska's asdfmovie 7)

I would eat more, but I'm full!

  • Image from Youtube video ASDF movie 7 by TomSka

Akkor, Ha & Majd

While using the conditional mood, we can ask hypothetical questions as well. If we are using the conditional mood, then every aspect of that sentence is used in the conditional as well.

The word ha means if, and is not limited to the conditional mood.

  • Mi lenne, ha megnyerném a lottót? - (What would happen if I (would) win the lotto?)
  • Mi leszel ha nagy leszel? - (What will you be when you grow up?) non-conditional
  • Elmentem volna, ha meghívott volna - (I would have gone if he had invited me).

Barnabás: Mi lesz, ha elütnek egy matematikust? - (What happens if they run over a mathematician?) non-conditional

Alex: Nem tudom, mi lesz?

Barnabás: Már nem számít... - (It doesn't matter / He/she no longer counts).

The word akkor means then, and is used as an immediate follow-up.

  • Ha kitalált karakter lennél, akkor ki lennél? - (If you were a fictional character, then who would you be?)
  • Ha azt hiszitek, hogy hazamegyek és feladom, akkor tévedtek! - (If you (guys) believe that I'm going home and giving up, then you are mistaken!)

Alex: Készen állsz? - (Are you ready? lit. Do you stand prepared?)

Barnabás: Igen. - (Yes.)

Alex: Akkor mire vársz? Most indulunk! - (Then what are you waiting for? We're leaving now!)

If the word akkor is an immediate follow-up, then majd is a distant unknown point in the future, like the English word sometime. Majd is either used with the conditional mood or present indicative mood (never the future).

  • Egy nap majd, szeretnék megtanulni egy másik nyelvet. - (Someday I would like to learn another language).
  • Holnap majd meghallgatom ezt a dalt. (Sometime tomorrow I'll listen to this song.)

Listening

Gabriel and Hector are talking, try to work out what they are saying! Taken from Desperate Housewives Season 2, Episode 8.

Your browser does not support the audio element.

<script type = "text/javascript"> function check_reveal(button) { var hun = document.getElementById("transcript"); var eng = document.getElementById("translation"); var none = document.getElementById("none"); if (button === 'transcript') { if (hun.style.display === "none" && eng.style.display === "none") { none.style.display = "none"; hun.style.display = "block"; }else if (hun.style.display === "none" && eng.style.display === "block") { none.style.display = "none"; eng.style.display = "none"; hun.style.display = "block"; } }else if (button === 'translation') if (eng.style.display === "none" && hun.style.display === "none") { none.style.display = "none"; eng.style.display = "block"; }else if (eng.style.display === "none" && hun.style.display === "block") { none.style.display = "none"; hun.style.display = "none"; eng.style.display = "block"; } } function clearAll() { var hun = document.getElementById("transcript"); var eng = document.getElementById("translation"); hun.style.display = "none"; eng.style.display = "none"; none.style.display = "block"; } </script> Transcript Translation Clear
G: Nem is akartam gyereket.
H: Ja.
G: És rémes anya lettem volna.
H: Ha maga mondja.
G: Ha fiú Charlie lett volna.
H: Igen?
G: És ha lány, Aurora.
H: Mindkettő szép név.
G: Köszönöm.
G: I didn't even want a child.
H: Oh.
G: And I would have been a terrible mother.
H: If you say.
G: If it was a boy he would have been Charlie.
H: Yes?
G: And if it was a girl, Aurora.
H: Both are pretty names.
G: Thank you.









-hat, -het

To show possibility or ask for it, you can add -hat,-het to the verb before the conjugation. Vowel harmony determines which one to use.

  • Segíthetek? - (Can I / am I allowed to help?)
  • Mehetek? - (Can I / am I allowed to go?)
  • Láthatom? - (Can I /Am I allowed to see it?)

It is worth noting that when adding -hat,-het to a sibilant verb (like keres he/she/it finds), the verb becomes kereshet and is no longer sibilant. This means that it doesnt get any sibilant endings when being conjugated, e.g. You can search is kereshetel kereshetsz.

Some irregular verbs change unexpectedly when -hat,-het is added.

Irregular verb Conjugation
van/lesz lehet
vesz (he/she/it takes/buys) vehet
visz (he/she/it brings/carreis) vihet
hisz (he/she/it believes) hihet
eszik,iszik (he/she/it eats, drinks) ehet,ihat
megy (he/she/it goes) mehet
jön (he/she/it comes) jöhet

lehet is interesting as it is used frequently as it is possible.

Lehet, hogy nehéz lesz, de nem lehetetlen! - (Lyric: It could be/is possible, that it will be hard, but not impossible!)

Finally, you can combine the conditional mood with -hat, -het we get could (lit. would be possible).

  • Találkozhatnánk? - (Could we meet up?)
  • De azt hiszem, hogy igazán megcsinálhatnád. - (But I believe you could really do it.)
  • Bárcsak láthatnám az arcát, amikor megtudja! - (If only I could see his face, when he finds out!)

Bárcsak means if only/I wish and it is considered conditional. When it is used, the rest of the sentence must be conditional as well.

Yet to Learn

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