Introduction

1. Grammar

 

1.1 Agreement

 

1.1.1 Tense, mood, aspect, person (for verbs)

The predicate agrees with the subject in number and person and with the object concerning its definiteness. The agreement is determined by the subject’s and object’s grammatical features and is marked on the finite verb.

 

If the subject is a first/second person pronoun, it triggers a first/second person form of the verb. Third-person pronouns and noun phrases trigger a third-person form.

 

Example

Source text	Are you coming too?
✘	Te is eljöttök?
✓	Te is eljössz?

 

Subjectless sentences trigger a third-person form.

 

Example

Source text	It is snowing.
✘	Havaztok.
✓	Havazik.

 

Note: there's no distinction in third person plural pronouns genderwise (all genders are referred to as "ő"/"ők")

 

The equivalent of pronouns Ön, Önök (or same in lowercase letters), Maga, Maguk (or same in lowercase letters) is you in EN; the equivalent of te, ti is also you in EN. Formal pronouns like maga, maguk, ön, önök, and Ön or Önök trigger third person form. Maga, ön, and Ön trigger a singular form, maguk, önök and Önök trigger a plural form.

 

Example

Source text	My ladies, would you like a cup of coffee?
✘	Hölgyeim, kér egy kávét?
✓	Hölgyeim, kérnek egy kávét?

 

Numerals (even more than one) and universal pronouns in noun phrases trigger the singular form of the noun. When they occur in the subject position, they trigger a singular form of the verb.

 

Examples

Source text	two cats
✘	két macskák
✓	két macska

 

Source text	all the cats
✘	minden macskák
✓	minden macska

 

Source text	All the cats are lying on the bed.
✘	Minden macska az ágyon fekszenek.
✓	Minden macska az ágyon fekszik.

 

If the subject consists of multiple noun phrases that are singular, both singular and plural forms of the verb can be used.

 

Example

Source text	Peter and Julia visited us.
✓	Péter és Júlia meglátogatott minket.
✓	Péter és Júlia meglátogattak minket.

 

However, when (at least) one of the noun phrases is plural, a plural form of the verb is triggered.

 

Example

Source text	My aunt and her kids visited us.
✘	A nagynéném és a gyerekei meglátogatott minket.
✓	A nagynéném és a gyerekei meglátogattak minket.

 

If the subject contains personal pronouns, a first-person verb should be used when there is a first-person pronoun and a second-person verb should be used when there is a second-person pronoun (without a first-person pronoun).

 

Examples

Source text	You and I are together.
✘	Te és én együtt vagytok.
✓	Te és én együtt vagyunk.

 

Source text	She and I are together.
✘	Ő és én együtt vannak.
✓	Ő és én együtt vagyunk.

 

Source text	She and you are together.
✘	Ő és te együtt vannak.
✓	Ő és te együtt vagytok.

 

Source text	This girl and I are together.
✘	Ez a lány és én együtt vannak.
✓	Ez a lány és én együtt vagyunk.

 

Some collective nouns referring to institutions are formally plural but trigger a singular form of the predicate when in the subject position. In a similar way, proper nouns that are formally plural but refer to one entity trigger a singular verb.

 

Examples

Source text	The waterworks informed us that there will be some outage in water supply next week.
✘	Értesítettek a vízművek, hogy jövő héten kimaradás várható a vízellátásban.
✓	Értesített a vízművek, hogy jövő héten kimaradás várható a vízellátásban.

 

Source text	Alvin and the Chipmunks is looking for a guitarist.
✘	Az Alvin és a mókusok gitárost keresnek.
✓	Az Alvin és a mókusok gitárost keres.

 

There are cases when an infinitive agrees with the (dative) subject of the clause. In some auxiliary constructions, the subject bears the dative case, however, they trigger person and number agreement with the infinitival object of the auxiliary. Personal pronouns may also occur as subjects in the dative case in such constructions, triggering person and number agreement with the infinitive. If the infinitive does not agree with the dative subject, the sentence might still be grammatical but with a slightly different meaning (implying an impersonal construction).

 

Examples

Source text	I had to move out at the end of the month.
✘	A hónap végén ki kellett költözni.
✓	A hónap végén ki kellett költöznöm. [nekem - moving out concerns me, not someone else].

 

Source text	The boys must try harder to get into the team.
✘	A fiúknak keményebben kellene próbálkozni, hogy bekerüljenek a csapatba.
✓	A fiúknak keményebben kellene próbálkozniuk, hogy bekerüljenek a csapatba. [nekik - it's their responsibility to try harder]

 

If the object is definite, it triggers a definite form of the verb. Definite objects comprise of proper nouns; noun phrases with a definite article; possessive noun phrases; third person pronouns; demonstrative, universal, reflexive, possessive, and reciprocal pronouns; and a clausal object.

 

Example

Source text	He can see Julia.
✘	Lát Júliát.
✓	Látja Júliát.

 

Source text	I am reading this book.
✘	Ezt a könyvet olvasok.
✓	Ezt a könyvet olvasom.

 

Source text	She could see that the dog was chasing the cat.
✘	Látott, hogy a kutya kerget a macskát.
✓	Látta, hogy a kutya kergeti a macskát.

 

Source text	My neighbor could not find his dog.
✘	A szomszédom nem talált a kutyáját.
✓	A szomszédom nem találta a kutyáját.

 

Source text	We have known each other for two years.
✘	Két éve ismerünk egymást.
✓	Két éve ismerjük egymást.

 

Example of a whole definite conjugational paradigm:

• Én látom a kutyát/Józsit
• Te látod a kutyát/Józsit
• Ő látja a kutyát/Józsit
• Mi látjuk a kutyát/Józsit
• Ti látjátok a kutyát/Józsit
• Ők látják a kutyát/Józsit

 

If the object is indefinite, it triggers an indefinite form of the verb. Indefinite objects comprise of noun phrases with an indefinite article; bare common nouns; noun phrases including a numeral; first or second-person pronouns; interrogative pronouns; and infinitival constructions.

 

Examples

Source text	He bought a car yesterday.
✘	Vette egy autót tegnap.
✓	Vett egy autót tegnap.

 

Source text	The teachers are reading a newspaper now.
✘	A tanárok éppen újságot olvassák.
✓	A tanárok éppen újságot olvasnak.

 

Source text	We wrote three letters last night.
✘	Három levelet írtuk meg tegnap este.
✓	Három levelet írtunk meg tegnap este.

 

Source text	Did Peter invite you to his party?
✘	Meghívta Péter téged a bulijába?
✓	Meghívott Péter téged a bulijába?

 

Source text	Who did Peter invite to his party?
✘	Kit hívta meg Péter a bulijába?
✓	Kit hívott meg Péter a bulijába?

 

Source text	I like running.
✘	Szeretem futni.
✓	Szeretek futni.

 

A special form of the verb (-lak/-lek) is used with second-person pronominal objects in the first-person singular.

 

Example

Source text	I love you.
✘	Szeretek téged.
✓	Szeretlek téged.

 

Intransitive verbs are conjugated according to the indefinite conjugational patterns.

 

Example

Source text	This task consists of two parts.
✘	Ez a feladat két részből állja.
✓	Ez a feladat két részből áll.

 

Example of a whole indefinite conjugational paradigm:

• Én látok egy kutyát
• Te látsz egy kutyát
• Ő lát egy kutyát
• Mi látunk egy kutyát
• Ti láttok egy kutyát
• Ők látnak egy kutyát

 

1.1.2 Gender and number (nouns and adjectives)

 

Adjectives agree with their respective nouns in number only in a predicative position. That is, attributive adjectives within a noun phrase do not change their form.

 

Examples

Source text	These teachers are very clever.
✘	Ezek a tanárok nagyon okos.
✓	Ezek a tanárok nagyon okosak.

 

Source text	Clever policemen are rare to find.
✘	Okosak rendőrt ritkán találni.
✓	Okos rendőrt ritkán találni.
✓	Okos rendőröket ritkán találni. [singular adjective + plural noun]

 

There is no grammatical gender in Hungarian.

 

1.1.3 Case (nouns and determiners)

The ez/az ‘this/that’ determiners agree in case and number with the nouns they precede.

 

Example

Source text	I often meet these boys in the supermarket.
✘	A boltban gyakran találkozom ezeket a fiúkkal.
✘	A boltban gyakran találkozom ezzel a fiúkkal.
✓	A boltban gyakran találkozom ezekkel a fiúkkal.

 

1.1.4 Possessive agreement

In the case of nominal possessors, possessees agree with their possessors, i.e. they bear a special possessive suffix.

 

Example

Source text	My neighbor’s son was playing in the garden.
✘	A szomszéd fiam a kertben játszott.
✓	A szomszédom fia a kertben játszott.

 

In the case of pronominal possessors, the possessee also agrees with the person and number of the possessor.

 

Example

Source text	My neighbor was digging in the garden while your neighbour was sleeping.
✘	Az én szomszédod a kertben ásott, miközben a te szomszédom aludt.
✓	Az én szomszédom a kertben ásott, miközben a te szomszédod aludt.

 

Example of a whole conjugational paradigm for a singular possessee:

• az én macskám/fiam 
• a te macskád/fiad
• az ő macskája/fia [attention to the phonomorphemic changes!]
• a mi macskánk/fiunk
• a ti macskátok/fiatok
• az ő macskájuk/fiuk

 

In the case of multiple possessors, the possessee usually agrees with the nearest possessor.

 

Examples

Source text	Both your and my parents were born in the 1950s.
✘	A te és az én szüleid is az ötvenes években születtek.
✓	A te és az én szüleim is az ötvenes években születtek.

 

Source text	Both his and your parents were born in the 1950s.
✘	Az ő és a te szülei is az ötvenes években születtek.
✓	Az ő és a te szüleid is az ötvenes években születtek.

 

Example of a whole conjugational paradigm for a plural possessee:

• az én macskáim/fiaim
• a ti macskáid/fiaid
• az ő macskái/fiai
• a mi macskáink/fiaink
• a ti macskáitok/fiaitok
• az ő macskáik/fiaik

 

1.2 Determiners

Determiners include definite and indefinite articles and quantifiers. They should precede the noun (however, they do not need to be adjacent as some adjectives etc. may intervene). They are not inflected.

The form of the definite article (a/az) is determined on the basis of the first sound of the following word. If the next sound is a vowel, the form az should be selected, if it is a consonant, the form a should be selected. Special attention should be paid to foreign words (e.g. proper nouns) which may be pronounced differently from the way the orthography might suggest. In other words: if the word-initial sound is a consonant, you use a; if it's a vowel, you use az, independently of orthography.

 

Examples

Source text	the apples
✘	a almák
✓	az almák

 

Source text	the pears
✘	az körték
✓	a körték

 

Source text	Many people travelled with United last year.
✘	Sokan utaztak az Uniteddal tavaly.
✓	Sokan utaztak a Uniteddal tavaly.

 

1.3 Prepositions 

Hungarian uses postpositions, which typically express a temporal, modal, causal, and local meaning. In some cases, verbs and adjectives require a specific postposition in their argument structure, and these collocations are fixed and cannot be changed.

 

Example

Source text	As for her summer holiday, Julie decided on Florida.
✘	Az idei nyaralását illetően Juli Florida után döntött.
✓	Az idei nyaralását illetően Juli Florida mellett döntött.

 

1.4 Pronouns

Hungarian is a pro-drop language, meaning that verbal suffixes convey information for the subject and object (if any), hence personal pronouns referring to the subject/object can be usually omitted from the sentence if they are not emphatic or contrastive. The same is true for personal pronouns functioning as a possessor.

 

Example

Source text	I love you.
✘	Én szeretlek téged.
✓	Szeretlek.

 

Example

Source text	My mother was born in January.
✘	Az én anyám januárban született.
✓	Az anyám januárban született.

 

In a contrastive position, however, personal pronouns are usually spelled out.

 

Example

Source text	My mother was born in January, but your mother in March.
✘	Az anyám januárban született, de az anyád márciusban.
✓	Az én anyám januárban született, de a te anyád márciusban.

 

1.5 Verbs

Verbs are inflected for tense, mood, person and number, and some other grammatical categories are also marked on the verb with suffixes, namely, causative and frequentative and modal suffixes.

 

Example

Source text	I made Peter repair my car.
✘	Pétert csináltam az autómat javítani.
✓	Péterrel javíttattam meg az autómat.

 

Modern Hungarian makes use of only a present and a past tense. Future is marked with either a present tense verb (often accompanied by a temporal adverb referring to the future, like majd, később, hamarosan, jövő héten, etc.) or with a periphrastic construction with the auxiliary fog.

 

Example

Source text	She will leave soon.
✓	Hamarosan elmegy.
✓	Hamarosan el fog menni.

 

Aspectual information of the English continuous and perfect tenses is expressed with adverbs and/or verbal prefixes. The prefixes el and meg, for example, often indicate the completion of the action.

 

Example

Source text	Sorry, I have eaten your sandwich by mistake.
✘	Bocsánat, véletlenül ettem a szendvicsedet.
✓	Bocsánat, véletlenül megettem a szendvicsedet.

 

An impersonal construction or a verb in the active voice should be used instead of the passive voice. The construction copula + adverbial participle should be used with care, only in cases where the state of the subject is described.

 

Example

Source text	The house had been already sold before I had a chance to visit it.
✘	A ház már eladódott, még mielőtt felkereshettem volna.
✘	A ház már el lett adva, még mielőtt felkereshettem volna.
✓	A házat már eladták, még mielőtt felkereshettem volna.

 

Example

Source text	The windows are broken.
✘	Az ablakok betörettek.
✓	Az ablakok be vannak törve.

 

2. Orthography

 

2.1 Abbreviations

Abbreviations are usually written with dots, however, there are some exceptions (e.g. measurement units, and currency items). Inflectional suffixes are attached to them with a hyphen, and assimilation rules for suffixes follow the pronounced form of the abbreviation (e.g. kg is spelled out as kilogram hence the form kg-mal ‘with kg’ is correct.

 

Examples

Source text	etc.
✘	stb
✓	stb.

 

Source text	kg
✘	kg.
✓	kg

 

Source text	with 1 kg
✘	1 kgmal
✓	1 kg-mal

 

The most common abbreviations are listed in A magyar helyesírás szabályai, section 284.

 

2.2 Apostrophes

Apostrophes are rarely used in Hungarian. It usually denotes some omitted sounds, and it is commonly used in fixed expressions and years (e.g. ‘95 meaning 1995).

 

Example

Source text	Thank God, he arrived safely.
✘	Hál istennek, épségben megérkezett.
✓	Hál’istennek, épségben megérkezett.

 

2.3 Capitalization 

Hungarian sentences should begin with a capital letter.

 

Proper nouns such as people’s names, organizations, toponyms, astronomical names, and brand names are capitalized. If they consist of multiple tokens, usually most of them are capitalized, with the exception of bridges (e.g. Petőfi híd), street names (e.g. Virág utca), and hyphenated names where the second part is a common name (e.g. Velencei-tó).

 

Titles of artwork (e.g. paintings, sculptures) and literary work begin with a capital letter but are not otherwise capitalized (with the exception of containing a proper noun).

 

As opposed to English, ethnicities, nationalities, cardinal points, holidays, days, and months are not capitalized. (However, they might be part of a proper noun, e.g. Karácsony can be a surname. In this case, they should be capitalized.)

 

Example

Source text	She gave me a jumper for Christmas.
✘	Pulóvert adott nekem Karácsonyra.
✓	Pulóvert adott nekem karácsonyra.

 

Source text	My mother has just finished The Lord of the Rings.
✘	Anyám épp most fejezte be A Gyűrűk Urát.
✓	Anyám épp most fejezte be A gyűrűk urát.

 

Source text	10 March 2010
✘	2010. Március 10.
✓	2010. március 10.

 

2.4 Compounds

Hungarian compounds are either written together or with a hyphen, according to the following rules.

 

If a compound consists of only two parts, it is spelled as one word.

 

If a compound consists of more than two parts, it is spelled as one word if the sum of the syllables is at most 6. If the sum is at least 7, the compound is hyphenated.

 

For lexicalized exceptions (e.g. pénzügyminisztérium), please refer to A magyar helyesírás szabályai.

 

Example

Source text	weather forecast
✘	időjárás előrejelzés
✘	időjáráselőrejelzés
✓	időjárás-előrejelzés

 

Source text	tomato salad
✘	paradicsom saláta
✘	paradicsom-saláta
✓	paradicsomsaláta

 

A compound that starts with at least one foreign word, a proper name, or an acronym is always written with a hyphen. 

 

Example

Source text	Ford factory
✘	Ford gyár
✘	Fordgyár
✓	Ford-gyár

 

Please refer to A magyar helyesírás szabályai, 95-141.

 

2.5 Diacritics

Hungarian applies several diacritics for vowels. The full set of vowels is listed below.

 

a á e é i í o ó ö ő u ú ü ű

 

Each of the above denotes a different sound, and in minimal pairs, they encode meaning differences, e.g. hat ‘six’ vs. hát ‘back’.

 

Circumflex and tilde are sometimes also used in Hungarian texts on the internet (possibly due to the lack of proper diacritics available) but they should be avoided (e.g. ô or õ instead of ő).

 

2.6 Foreign words

Foreign words are usually translated, however, there are some frequent expressions that are kept in the original language. They are usually written without quotation marks. They are inflected according to Hungarian inflectional rules.

 

Example

Source text	After the war, the previous status quo could not be maintained.
✘	A háború után nem lehetett megőrizni a korábban fennálló állapotot.
✓	A háború után nem lehetett megőrizni a korábbi status quót.

 

2.7 Numerals

Regarding numerals format (written in numbers or words), you must always respect the source text: if they are written as digits in the source text, this should be maintained in the translation; on the other hand, if they are written as words, they should be translated into the target language. 

 

Hungarian uses a whitespace or a period to indicate groups of thousands.

 

Example

✘ 3,000,000

✓ 3 000 000

✓ 3.000.000

 

Hungarian uses a comma to indicate the decimal place.

 

Example

✘ 6.25

✓ 6,25

 

The English billion is translated as milliárd, not billió.

 

Example

Source text	1 billion dollar house
✘	1 billió dolláros ház
✓	1 milliárd dolláros ház

 

2.8 Symbols

Symbols  (%, /, |, etc.) are not preceded by a whitespace in Hungarian.

 

Example

✘ 50 %

✓ 50%

 

Inflectional suffixes for symbols are chosen according to the spelled out form of the symbol (e.g. % - százalék ‘percentage’) and are added with a hyphen.

 

Example

✘ 50%-t

✓ 50%-ot

 

✘ 50%-al

✓ 50%-kal

 

3. Punctuation

3.1 How to use punctuation marks

 

Comma

The main functions of commas are to separate clauses, to separate elements of listings and to mark decimal points. The comma is followed by a whitespace (except for the case when it marks a decimal point).

 

Example

Source text	He ordered some bread, milk and tea.
✘	Kenyeret tejet és teát rendelt.
✓	Kenyeret, tejet és teát rendelt.

 

Source text	She called her mother and then she left for work.
✘	Felhívta az anyját majd munkába indult.
✓	Felhívta az anyját, majd munkába indult.

 

Colon

Colons are used to relate two thoughts or to mark the beginning of a listing.

The colon is followed by a whitespace and the following word is capitalized if it introduces an independent clause or direct speech.

 

Example

Source text	This is what she bought today: pens, pencils, books and an eraser.
✘	Ma ezeket vásárolta, tollak, ceruzák, könyvek és egy radír.
✓	Ma ezeket vásárolta: tollak, ceruzák, könyvek és egy radír.

 

Semicolon

Semicolons can be found between clauses where the use of a comma would be too weak. Semicolons are followed by a whitespace but the following word is not capitalized.

 

Example

Source text	The restaurant was closed last night; we had to have dinner at home.
✘	Tegnap este zárva volt az étterem; Otthon kellett vacsoráznunk.
✓	Tegnap este zárva volt az étterem; otthon kellett vacsoráznunk.

 

Period

Periods mark the end of declarative sentences. The following word is capitalized. They are also used in separating groups of thousands in numerals (see Numerals). In the former case, it is followed by a whitespace; in the latter case, it is not followed by a whitespace.

 

Example

Source text	The restaurant was closed last night.
✘	Tegnap este zárva volt az étterem.
✓	Tegnap este zárva volt az étterem.

 

Exclamation mark

Exclamation marks are more widely used in Hungarian than in English. They typically mark emphatic and emotional sentences, commands and wishes. They also mark the end of the sentence and are followed by a whitespace. The following word is capitalized. 

 

Example

Source text	I wish you were here.
✘	Bárcsak itt lennél.
✓	Bárcsak itt lennél!

 

Question mark

Question marks denote questions. They also mark the end of the sentence and are followed by a whitespace. The following word is capitalized. 

 

Example

Source text	Do you know this man?
✘	Ismered ezt a férfit.
✓	Ismered ezt a férfit?

 

Hyphen

Hyphens can be used in elliptical constructions where the first or last part of the compound is ellipted and in compounds. They are also used to attach suffixes to acronyms.

 

Examples

Source text	foot-and-mouth disease
✘	száj és körömfájás
✓	száj- és körömfájás

 

Source text	football world championship
✘	labdarúgó világbajnokság
✓	labdarúgó-világbajnokság

 

Source text	He attended MIT.
✘	Az MTIra járt.
✓	Az MIT-ra járt.

 

n dash

N dashes are used to attach two nationalities, two proper nouns or two numbers.

 

Examples

Source text	English–Hungarian dictionary
✘	angol-magyar szótár
✓	angol–magyar szótár

 

Source text	Manchester–London flight
✘	Manchester-London járat
✓	Manchester–London járat

 

Source text	pages 5–10
✘	5-10. oldal
✓	5–10. oldal

 

m dash

M dashes are used to attach two different thoughts. They can also mark quotes in fiction, and they can also mark dialogue. They are preceded and followed by a whitespace. However, when it is the first character in the line in dialogues, it is not preceded by a whitespace.

 

Examples

Source text	He said, "I don't care."
✘	Azt mondta, „Nem érdekel.”
✓	Azt mondta: ― Nem érdekel.

 

Source text	“I don’t care”, he said. “Why?”, she asked.
✘	―Nem érdekel―mondta. ―Miért?―kérdezte.
✓	―  Nem érdekel ― mondta. ―Miért? ― kérdezte.

 

Quotation marks

 

Quotation marks are used to mark direct speech, citations or to emphasize parts of the text. The initial quotation mark is preceded by a whitespace, but not followed by a whitespace. The opposite is true for the final quotation mark.

Hungarian applies the following pair of characters for quotations: „ ”

For quotations within quotations, the following pair of characters is applied: »«.

 

Example

Source text	“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” ― Oscar Wilde
✘	“Légy önmagad; mindenki más foglalt.” ― Oscar Wilde
✓	„Légy önmagad; mindenki más foglalt.” ― Oscar Wilde

 

3.2 Punctuation in greetings and closings.

Formal greetings with Tisztelt should be followed by an exclamation mark; formal greetings with Kedves can be followed by a comma or an exclamation mark:

 

Examples

Source text	Dear Mr. Brown,
✘	Tisztelt Brown Úr:
✘	Tisztelt Brown Úr,
✓	Tisztelt Brown Úr!

 

Source text	Dear Martin,
✘	Kedves Martin:
✓	Kedves Martin,
✓	Kedves Martin!

 

Closings can be followed by a comma or a colon (and followed by the signature of the sender)

 

Example

Source text	Yours sincerely,
✘	Üdvözlettel!
✓	Üdvözlettel,
✓	Üdvözlettel:

 

4. Register

4.1 Grammatical and Lexical Registers

Register refers to the level of formality used in the text. It shows how our clients address their customers and contributes to the voice of the brand itself. Register may vary depending on the company, the brand, the service they offer, the customers, and the target language. 

We make a first main distinction between grammatical and lexical register: the first one regards the use of pronouns and verb person (for the languages to which this morphological feature is applied), while the latter is related to lexical choices since some words and expressions also have a degree of formality or colloquialism.

Both these registers are also divided into formal and informal, as shown below. 

 

4.1.1 Formal Register

The formal register is used for professional and official communication. It is also used when there is a gap in social status or age between the communicator and the potential audience.

 

Category	Examples	Type of Register
Personal pronouns	Ön, Maga, Önök, Maguk ön, maga, önök, maguk	Grammatical
Verbs (person used to conjugate the verb)	3Sg 3Pl	Grammatical
Greetings	Several forms may be used, e.g. Kedves [First Name]! Tisztelt Uram! Tisztelt Hölgyem! Tisztelt [Last Name] Úr! Tisztelt [Last Name] Asszony!	Lexical
Closings	Several forms may be used, e.g. Tisztelettel: Üdvözlettel: Köszönettel: (OR the same formulae with a comma at the end of the phrase)	Lexical

 

4.1.2 Informal Register

The informal register is used in less formal contexts, especially when the age and social status of the potential audience are similar to those of the communicator.

 

Category	Examples	Type of Register
Personal pronouns	te, ti	Grammatical
Verbs (person used to conjugate the verb)	2Sg 2Pl	Grammatical
Greetings	Several forms can be used, e.g. Szia! Sziasztok! Szervusz! Szervusztok!	Lexical
Closings	Several forms may be used, e.g. Üdv: Köszi: OR the same formulae with a comma at the end of the phrase	Lexical

 

5. Localization challenges

5.1 Proper nouns

Proper nouns refer to unique entities, such as persons, places, organizations, brands, events, etc. As foreign proper nouns are concerned, languages may adopt different rules regarding whether they should be translated or kept in the original language. When editing a text, you should follow the rules of your language for all different types of proper nouns listed below. However, please note that if there is a glossary provided by the client that includes these types of units, you should always apply the glossary items. 

 

5.1.1 Persons

Person names are usually kept untranslated, with some exceptions specified below. They can undergo nominal inflection, i.e. they can bear the same inflectional suffixes as Hungarian nouns. The original order is also preserved (note that in Hungarian, the standard order of full names is surname + given name, as opposed to English).

 

Example

Source text	George Bush was elected as president.
✘	Bokor Györgyöt elnökké választották.
✓	George Bush-t elnökké választották.

 

As for royalties and other well-known personalities, a translation is required (there are some exceptions, like Prince Harry, Fergie and Meghan). If necessary, the order of the name is also changed according to Hungarian norms. These translated names can undergo nominal inflection.

 

Examples

Source text	Queen Elizabeth II
✘	II. Elizabeth királynő
✓	II. Erzsébet királynő

 

Source text	John Paul II was followed by Benedict XVI.
✘	II. John Pault XVI. Benedict követte.
✓	II. János Pált XVI. Benedek követte.

 

5.1.2 Places

Countries and monuments are always translated. There are some cities that have an established Hungarian name for historical reasons, and as such, they are translated, e.g. Vienna - Bécs, Bratislava - Pozsony, Leipzig - Lipcse. In other cases, the original name is kept.

 

Example

Source text	He was born in Cape Town, South Africa.
✘	Cape Townban, Dél-Afrikában született.
✓	Fokvárosban, Dél-Afrikában született.

 

5.1.3 Organizations

Names of organizations (and their abbreviations) are translated if an established Hungarian translation exists. In other cases, they are kept untranslated.

 

Examples

Source text	European Union
✘	European Union
✓	Európai Unió

 

Source text	United Nations (UN)
✘	Egyesült Nemzetek Szervezete (UN)
✓	Egyesült Nemzetek Szervezete (ENSZ)

 

5.1.4 Brands and products

Brands and products are usually kept in their original form. However, they can undergo nominal inflection and can bear the same inflectional suffixes as Hungarian nouns.

 

Example

Source text	I have bought a Samsung Galaxy S10.
✘	Vettem egy Samsung Galaxis S10-et.
✓	Vettem egy Samsung Galaxy S10-et.

 

5.1.5 Other entities

Other entities such as pieces of artwork, events, boats etc. are translated if an established Hungarian translation exists. This is the case of well-known classical artworks, literary pieces, etc. In other cases, they are kept untranslated.

 

Example

Source text	The Night Watch was painted by Rembrandt.
✘	Rembrandt festette a Night Watch-ot.
✓	Rembrandt festette az Éjjeli őrjáratot.

 

5.2 Acronyms and initials

Acronyms are translated if an established translation exists in Hungarian. In other cases, the source abbreviation is kept untranslated.

 

Example

Source text	AIDS became widely known in the 1980s.
✘	A SZIHT az 1980-as években vált széles körben ismertté.
✓	Az AIDS az 1980-as években vált széles körben ismertté.

 

When they bear an inflectional suffix, the spelt out form of the acronym determines the form of the suffix.

 

Example

Source text	Only a few people were infected with AIDS in the early 1980s.
✘	Csak néhány ember fertőződött meg AIDS-sel az 1980-as évek elején.
✓	Csak néhány ember fertőződött meg AIDS-szel az 1980-as évek elején.

 

5.3 Date format

 

Hungarian uses the format yyyy. mm. dd. The month can be spelt out, can be abbreviated or can be written with an Arabic or Roman number, with the most common format being the one that uses the Arabic number. When the month is spelt out, it is followed by a whitespace (i.e. no period).

 

Example

✘ 20. 03. 2011.

✓ 2011. 03. 20.

✓ 2011. márc. 20.

✓ 2011. III. 20.

✓ 2011. március 20.

 

Inflectional suffixes are attached to dates with a hyphen and the period is deleted before the hyphen. Their form depends on the spelt out version of the last number.

 

Example

✘ 2011. 03. 20-n

✘ 2011. 03. 20.-án

✓ 2011. 03. 20-án

 

5.4 Time format 

Hungarian uses a 24 hour format. The format can be ‘hh.mm’ or ‘hh:mm’. No whitespaces are used before and after the colon and the period.

 

Example

✘ 10,15

✓ 10:15

✓ 10.15

 

Inflectional suffixes are attached to times with a hyphen.

 

Example

✘ 10:15kor

✓ 10:15-kor

 

5.5 Measures 

Measures should always keep the format of the source text and should never be converted. You should only translate them when they have an equivalent term in your language.

 

Even if a measuring unit is not common in Hungarian, no conversion should be made in translation.

 

Example

Source text	He was 6 feet tall.
✘	183 centiméter magas volt.
✓	6 láb magas volt.

 

5.6 Currency

Currency values should be left as they are in the source text, only translating the currency.

 

Example

Source text	100 euros
✘	100 euro
✓	100 euró

 

Currency symbols (€, $, £, etc.) follow the currency value. Usually, there is a whitespace between the currency value and the currency symbol. The same is true for currency abbreviations (USD, GBP, RUB, INR, DKK, NOK, etc.). Also, you should never translate these abbreviations as they are a convention accepted worldwide.

 

Examples

✘ €1

✓ 1 €

 

✘ USD1

✓ 1 USD

 

6. Tricky cases

The use of plural suffixes is sometimes tricky. 

 

Example

• kutya - kutyák; nő - nők BUT ló - lovak
• betű - betűk BUT tetű-tetvek

 

You should always check the plural of a newly encountered HU word although most of them follow the standard rules. 

 

7. Useful online resources

 

Bilingual dictionaries:

Topszótár

Dictzone

Tintakiado (IT specific)

Linguee

 

English verb conjugator:

Reverso

 

English grammar guide

English Grammar Online

 

English dictionaries:

Oxford English Dictionary

Collins English Dictionary

Cambridge English Dictionary

 

English thesauri:

Thesaurus.com

Oxford English Thesaurus

Collins English Thesaurus

 

Hungarian orthography guide:
Helyesírás

 

Hungarian thesaurus:
Magyar Elektronikus Könyvtár