Eszter is viewing a rental apartment in Győr with the owner, Katalin. The exchange introduces the rooms, location, furniture, rent, utilities, and deposit. Read it once as a complete viewing before using the segmentation and grammar notes.
Complete dialogue
Katalin: A lakás negyvennyolc négyzetméteres, és a második emeleten van.
Katalin: The apartment is forty-eight square meters and is on the second floor.
Eszter: Van lift a házban?
Eszter: Is there a lift in the building?
Katalin: Igen. A lakásban van két szoba, egy külön konyha és egy kis fürdőszoba.
Katalin: Yes. The apartment has two rooms, a separate kitchen, and a small bathroom.
Katalin: A hálószoba a nappali mellett van, a konyhából pedig egy erkély nyílik.
Katalin: The bedroom is next to the living room, and a balcony opens off the kitchen.
Eszter: Az ablakok az utcára néznek?
Eszter: Do the windows face the street?
Katalin: Nem, a csendes belső udvarra néznek. A buszmegálló viszont közvetlenül a ház előtt van.
Katalin: No, they face the quiet inner courtyard. The bus stop, however, is directly in front of the building.
Eszter: Bútorozott a lakás?
Eszter: Is the apartment furnished?
Katalin: Részben. Van benne három szekrény és egy új mosógép, de ágy nincs.
Katalin: Partly. It has three cupboards and a new washing machine, but there is no bed.
Eszter: Mennyi a havi bérleti díj, és benne van a rezsi?
Eszter: How much is the monthly rent, and are utilities included?
Katalin: A lakbér kétszáznegyvenezer forint havonta. A rezsi nincs benne; télen körülbelül harmincötezer forint.
Katalin: The rent is 240,000 forints per month. Utilities are not included; in winter they are about 35,000 forints.
Eszter: Mennyi kauciót kell fizetni?
Eszter: How much deposit has to be paid?
Katalin: Kéthavi kauciót kérek. Ha megfelel, jövő hónap elsején be lehet költözni.
Katalin: I ask for a two-month deposit. If it suits you, you can move in on the first of next month.
Sentence-by-sentence segmentation
| Hungarian chunks | Literal structure | Idiomatic meaning |
|---|---|---|
| negyvennyolc négyzetméter-es | forty-eight square-meter-ADJ | forty-eight square meters |
| a második emelet-en / van | the second floor-SUPER / is | is on the second floor |
| van / lift / a ház-ban? | exists / lift / building-INESS | is there a lift in the building? |
| van / két szoba | exists / two room-SG | there are two rooms |
| a nappali mellett | the living-room beside | next to the living room |
| a konyhá-ból / erkély nyílik | kitchen-ELATIVE / balcony opens | a balcony opens off the kitchen |
| az udvar-ra / néznek | courtyard-SUBL / they face | they face the courtyard |
| van benne / nincs benne | exists in-it / does-not-exist in-it | it includes / does not include |
| kéthavi / kaució-t | two-monthly / deposit-ACC | a two-month deposit |
| be lehet költözni | in-PREFIX possible move-INF | it is possible to move in |
Grammar decisions that build the description
1. Property adjectives do not agree
Negyvennyolc négyzetméteres, bútorozott, csendes, belső, új keep one form regardless of the noun’s number or case. Hungarian has no gender agreement and no plural adjective after an article in these attributive phrases.
2. Existential van introduces what a place contains
Van lift a házban and van két szoba introduce entities. Hungarian commonly places van before the new item. Once location is the main point, a második emeleten van places the location before van. The word order reflects information structure, not two different meanings of the verb.
3. Numerals require singular nouns
Két szoba and három szekrény contain singular nouns. Hungarian numerals already express plurality. Case attaches once to the quantified phrase: három szekrényt, not három szekrényeket.
4. Spatial cases encode different paths
Emeleten locates something on a level, házban/lakásban locates it inside, konyhából gives an interior source, and udvarra marks the direction faced. The suffix is part of each spatial construal. English prepositions do not map one to one onto them.
5. Postpositions follow their complement
A nappali mellett and a ház előtt place the noun phrase before mellett/előtt. English uses the reverse order next to the living room, in front of the house. The noun has no extra local suffix in these basic postpositional phrases.
6. Benne refers to an interior
Benne van a rezsi treats the rent or quoted sum as a container that includes utilities; nincs benne denies inclusion. Benne is the pronominal counterpart of -ban/-ben, not a freestanding translation of English included.
7. Rent expressions are nominal predicates
A lakbér kétszáznegyvenezer forint has no third-person present copula. Havonta means “per month.” Kéthavi kaució packages two months as an attributive measure, while kauciót kérek marks the requested sum as accusative.
8. Prefix order in be lehet költözni
With modal lehet, neutral be lehet költözni places the directional prefix before the modal and separates it from the infinitive. The existential and copular guide helps distinguish this lehet from location van.
Diagnosing an English-shaped description
A learner might write A lakásban vannak két szobák, és az ágy a nappali mellettben van. English plural agreement motivates both vannak and szobák, while next to is treated as if mellett also needed -ben.
❌ A lakásban vannak két szobák, és az ágy a nappali mellettben van.
Incorrect — quantified nouns stay singular, and mellett takes no added -ben.
✅ A lakásban két szoba van, a hálószoba pedig a nappali mellett van.
There are two rooms in the apartment, and the bedroom is next to the living room.
The corrected existential uses singular szoba and singular van. Pedig marks the shift to the bed, while a nappali mellett follows Hungarian postposition order.
Common Mistakes
❌ A lakás a harmadik emeletben van.
Incorrect — floors conventionally take superessive -on/-en/-ön.
✅ A lakás a harmadik emeleten van, lifttel is megközelíthető.
The apartment is on the third floor and can also be reached by lift.
❌ Van három erkélyek a házban.
Incorrect — the noun stays singular after három.
✅ A házban három erkély van, mindegyik az udvarra néz.
There are three balconies in the building; all of them face the courtyard.
❌ A park előtt a ház van.
Wrong for ‘the park is in front of the house’ — Hungarian postposition order reverses the relationship.
✅ A ház előtt egy kis park van.
There is a small park in front of the house.
❌ Nem beköltözhetünk elsején.
Incorrect neutral modal and prefix order.
✅ Elsején még nem költözhetünk be, csak másodikán.
We cannot move in on the first after all, only on the second.
Key Takeaways
- Existential van introduces items; known-item descriptions place informative locations before the verb.
- Nouns remain singular after numerals: két szoba, három szekrény.
- Spatial cases distinguish location, source, and direction; postpositions follow their noun phrase.
- Benne van/nincs benne expresses inclusion in a quoted amount or container.
- Rent is a nominal predicate, while the requested deposit takes accusative marking.
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