Small Talk about Weather

Dóra and Balázs are coworkers who meet outside their Budapest office on a windy spring morning. Their exchange is socially useful before it is informational: comments about the weather establish friendly contact, while the proposed riverside walk gives the conversation a practical outcome. Read the whole dialogue first; the analysis then shows how suffixes, omitted subjects, particles, prefixes, and word order cooperate.

The complete Hungarian dialogue

Dóra: Szia, Balázs! Elég hűvös lett, ugye?

Balázs: Szia! Igen. Reggel még sütött a nap, most meg mindjárt elered az eső.

Dóra: Tényleg. Hány fok van?

Balázs: Csak tizenkettő, de ebben a szélben még tíznek sem érződik.

Dóra: Azt mondták, délutánra eláll az eső, és estére a szél is gyengül.

Balázs: Tegnapra is ezt ígérték, aztán estig nem állt el.

Dóra: Reméljük, ma pontosabb az előrejelzés. Ha nem esik, munka után elsétálok a rakpartra.

Balázs: Én is arra megyek. Találkozzunk fél hatkor a hídnál?

Dóra: Jó. Addigra talán a nap is kisüt.

Balázs: Bárcsak! Akkor majd írok, mielőtt elindulok.

Dóra: Rendben. Vigyél azért esernyőt!

Balázs: Viszek. Na, szép napot!

Dóra: Neked is!

Idiomatic English translation

Dóra: Hi, Balázs! It’s turned rather chilly, hasn’t it?

Balázs: Hi! Yes. The sun was still shining this morning, but now it’s about to start raining.

Dóra: It really is. What’s the temperature?

Balázs: Only twelve degrees, but in this wind it doesn’t even feel like ten.

Dóra: They said the rain would stop by the afternoon and the wind would ease by the evening too.

Balázs: They promised that for yesterday too, and then it didn’t stop until the evening.

Dóra: Let’s hope today’s forecast is more accurate. If it doesn’t rain, I’m going to walk down to the riverfront after work.

Balázs: I’m going that way too. Shall we meet at the bridge at half past five?

Dóra: Good. Perhaps the sun will have come out by then too.

Balázs: If only! I’ll message you before I set off, then.

Dóra: All right. Take an umbrella anyway!

Balázs: I will. Well, have a good day!

Dóra: You too!

The English translation supplies several subjects that Hungarian leaves unspoken. It also translates fél hat as “half past five,” not literally “half six”: Hungarian names the coming hour when expressing a half hour.

Useful segmentation

The gloss column reveals form, not acceptable English order. Hungarian often encodes in one suffix what English expresses with a preposition or auxiliary.

Decision 1: weather without a dummy subject

English requires dummy it in “it is raining” and “it has become chilly.” Hungarian has no corresponding weather pronoun. Esik, eláll, and adjective-plus-van/lesz constructions stand without an overt subject; lexical subjects appear only where there really is one, as in süt a nap and gyengül a szél.

Here lett marks a change into a state: the day was not so chilly before. For a current state, Hungarian says hűvös van; for a prediction, hűvös lesz. Trying to insert an English-style subject—az esik or ő hideg van—creates no grammatical equivalent of English it.

Decision 2: temperatures and measurement

The ordinary question is Hány fok van?, literally “how many degree is there?” A full answer uses attributive tizenkét before the singular measure noun fok. The dialogue instead answers elliptically with standalone tizenkettő, because “degrees” is recoverable.

The dative tíznek belongs to the pattern valaminek érződik “feel/seem like something.” English speakers often preserve plural degrees, but Hungarian normally keeps a measured noun singular after a number: tizenkét fok, not tizenkét fokok. See the broader measurement patterns.

Decision 3: future meaning without obligatory fog

Hungarian present-tense forms readily refer to a scheduled, expected, or contextually future event. Eláll, gyengül, elsétálok, and írok receive future interpretations from expressions such as délutánra, estére, munka után, and majd. The imperative–subjunctive találkozzunk likewise proposes a future meeting without fog, but it is not a present-tense indicative form.

Using fog is possible when prediction or intention needs emphasis—Délután esni fog “It will rain this afternoon”—but it is not an English-style obligatory future auxiliary. Also notice that Hungarian normally uses present nem esik in the ha clause, just as standard English uses present after if.

Decision 4: endpoint suffixes organize time

The suffix -ra/-re can mark the time by which a change is expected: délutánra eláll and estére gyengül. By contrast, -ig marks the endpoint through which something continues: estig nem állt el. English uses different multiword expressions—“by the afternoon” and “until evening”—where Hungarian uses compact suffixes.

The plausible learner version délutánban eláll fails because interior -ban/-ben means “in” and does not present the afternoon as a deadline. Temporal suffix choice contributes meaning; it is not decorative morphology.

Decision 5: tiny particles manage the social exchange

Weather small talk is full of particles whose contribution is pragmatic. Ugye? invites confirmation. Még in reggel még presents the sunshine as a state that held then but no longer holds. Most meg shifts contrastively to the present. Sem after negation gives “not even,” while azért in the umbrella warning means “even so/just in case,” not its separate conjunction meaning “therefore.”

These particles also guide prosody. In speech, stress on nap in a nap is signals that sunshine joins other hoped-for improvements. English often relies more heavily on intonation or an added phrase such as “even so.” The dedicated particle guide shows why dictionary glosses alone are inadequate.

Decision 6: prefixes attach or separate according to clause structure

Neutral affirmative eláll, elsétálok, kisüt, and elindulok keep their prefixes before and attached to the verb. Negation occupies the preverbal position and pushes the prefix behind the verb: nem állt el, not nem elállt.

This is grammar, not optional spelling. A detached prefix remains a separate written word, but only when syntax has displaced it. In the neutral finite clause introduced by mielőtt, elindulok stays together.

Decision 7: topic, focus, and omitted material

In Én is arra megyek, explicit én contrasts Balázs with Dóra: “I’m going that way too.” Elsewhere subject endings make pronouns unnecessary: elsétálok, írok, and viszek already identify a first-person singular subject. The short answer Viszek also omits esernyőt, which is recoverable from Dóra’s question-like instruction.

Hungarian information structure chooses what appears before the verb. Fél hatkor találkozzunk a hídnál would naturally correct the time; a hídnál találkozzunk fél hatkor would correct the place. English speakers should not search for one mechanically “normal” order while ignoring the conversational question under discussion.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Hungarian has no dummy weather it: use esik, hűvös van, süt a nap, and fúj a szél.
• Say tizenkét fok van, but use standalone tizenkettő when fok is understood.
• Present forms plus clear time expressions normally carry future meaning; fog is available but not obligatory.
• -ra/-re can mean “by” a future endpoint, whereas -ig marks continuation “until” an endpoint.
• Particles such as ugye, még, meg, sem, is, majd, and azért manage assumptions and conversational stance.
• Neutral affirmative prefixes stay attached; negation produces nem áll el.
• Pro-drop, topic–focus order, and speech prosody work together to keep a short exchange cohesive.