hall: Complete Conjugation and Usage | Hungarian Grammar

Hall means “hear”: sound reaches the experiencer, whether or not that person deliberately attends to it. Hungarian consonant length is contrastive, so both l letters matter: hall “hears,” hal “dies,” and hal “fish” are different words. Valency then determines whether the verb is hallok or hallom, and prefixes turn raw perception into detection or successful reception.

Principal parts

Function	Form	Note
dictionary / present 3sg	hall	long ll
past 3sg	hallott	linking vowel + past -tt
conditional 3sg	hallana	linking a
imperative 2sg	hallj	the written llj is preserved
infinitive	hallani	not *hallni
present participle	halló	“hearing; listener”

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Write and pronounce both consonants. In hallottam “I heard,” both l letters belong to the stem hall-; the one-l spelling *halottam cannot mean “I heard.” Compare present hall “hear” with hal “die” or “fish.”

Indefinite conjugation

Person	Present	Past	Conditional	Imperative–subjunctive
én	hallok	hallottam	hallanék	halljak
te	hallasz	hallottál	hallanál	hallj / halljál
ő	hall	hallott	hallana	halljon
mi	hallunk	hallottunk	hallanánk	halljunk
ti	hallotok	hallottatok	hallanátok	halljatok
ők	hallanak	hallottak	hallanának	halljanak

Definite conjugation

Person	Present	Past	Conditional	Imperative–subjunctive
én	hallom	hallottam	hallanám	halljam
te	hallod	hallottad	hallanád	halld / halljad
ő	hallja	hallotta	hallaná	hallja
mi	halljuk	hallottuk	hallanánk	halljuk
ti	halljátok	hallottátok	hallanátok	halljátok
ők	hallják	hallották	hallanák	hallják

With an indefinite sound use hallok; with a definite one use hallom:

Valami halk zúgást hallok a konyha felől.

I hear a faint humming sound from the direction of the kitchen.

Tisztán hallom a szomszéd lakásban szóló zenét.

I can clearly hear the music playing in the neighboring apartment.

The English translation may add “can,” but Hungarian hallom already describes successful perception; tudom hallani is possible only when actual ability or conditions are being emphasized.

The experiencer is the subject of hall. When the sound itself is the grammatical subject and no hearer is named, Hungarian often uses hallatszik “be audible/carry” or hallható “audible.”

A főtéri koncert még a folyó túlpartján is hallatszik.

The concert in the main square can be heard even across the river.

A felvételen alig hallható a kérdező hangja.

The interviewer’s voice is barely audible in the recording.

These do not take a definite object: a koncert and a kérdező hangja are the things producing or carrying sound, not objects perceived by an expressed listener. Use hallom a koncertet when the hearer is the subject.

Sound, news, and source frames

A perceived sound, utterance, or person can be an accusative object. Information about a topic instead uses delative -ról/-ről, and a human source uses -tól/-től.

Hallottál már erről az új éjszakai vonatról?

Have you heard about this new night train?

A változás hírét először a kollégámtól hallottam.

I first heard the news of the change from my colleague.

Hall valamiről means receive information about it, not literally perceive its sound. The topic is not an accusative object, so even a definite erről az új vonatról does not trigger definite conjugation.

Perception plus infinitive

Hungarian can represent a whole perceived event as hall + accusative participant + infinitive. The accusative noun is interpreted as the doer of the infinitive.

Júlia hallotta a gyerekeket nevetni az udvaron.

Júlia heard the children laughing in the courtyard.

Éjjel hallottunk valakit végigfutni a folyosón.

At night, we heard someone run down the corridor.

The definite a gyerekeket selects hallotta, while indefinite valakit selects hallottunk. An alternative finite clause makes tense explicit:

Hallom, hogy valaki háromszor kopog az ajtón.

I hear that someone is knocking on the door three times.

English often uses an -ing form after perception; Hungarian uses the bare -ni infinitive and marks its participant accusative.

Hall versus hallgat

Hall is perception or reception: a sound reaches you. Hallgat is sustained attention—“listen”—or the absence of speech—“remain silent.”

Hallom a rádiót, de nem hallgatom a műsort.

I can hear the radio, but I’m not listening to the program.

This is not an aspect pair. A person can hall something involuntarily; hallgat normally implies attention. Conversely, hallgat without a sound object can mean “keep quiet.”

Meghall and prefix position

Meghall commonly means notice, catch, or successfully hear a bounded sound. It differs from meghallgat, which means listen to or hear someone out.

A recepciós azonnal meghallotta a vészjelző sípolását.

The receptionist immediately heard the emergency alarm beeping.

Neutral affirmation keeps meg- attached; negation, wh-focus, and narrow focus normally separate it:

A nagy zajban nem hallottam meg a telefonom csörgését.

In the loud noise, I didn’t hear my phone ringing.

Mikor hallottad meg először ezt a furcsa kattogást?

When did you first hear this strange clicking?

Csak másodszorra hallotta meg a nevét a hangosbemondóban.

She only heard her name over the loudspeaker the second time.

The specific object selects definite hallotta, while focus places the prefix after it. The general prefix-order guide explains why English word order cannot predict this placement.

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Separate intention from outcome: hall is auditory perception, hallgat is attentive listening or silence, and meghall often highlights that the sound was successfully detected.

Participles

Form	Typical use	Register
hallani	szeretné hallani “would like to hear”	unmarked
halló	halló ember “hearing person”	unmarked
hallott	a tegnap hallott történet “the story heard yesterday”	unmarked
hallva	a hírt hallva “on hearing the news”	unmarked
hallandó	“to be heard”; modern Hungarian usually prefers hallható or, for deliberate listening, meghallgatandó	(rare/archaic)

Common Mistakes

❌ A folyosóról furcsa zajt halok.

Incorrect — hear requires a long ll.

✅ A folyosó felől furcsa csikorgást hallok.

I hear a strange scraping sound from the corridor.

❌ Hallok a csengőt, de nem találom az ajtót.

Incorrect — the definite object requires definite conjugation.

✅ Hallom a csengőt, de nem találom a bejárati ajtót.

I hear the doorbell, but I can’t find the entrance door.

❌ A nagynéném hallottam az új szabályról.

Incorrect — the human information source is missing -tól/-től.

✅ A nagynénémtől hallottam az új szabályról.

I heard about the new rule from my aunt.

❌ Nem meghallottuk a figyelmeztető jelzést.

Incorrect — neutral negation separates the prefix.

✅ Nem hallottuk meg időben a figyelmeztető jelzést.

We did not hear the warning signal in time.

Key Takeaways

Preserve consonant length in hall – hallott – hallana – hallj – hallani.
Indefinite hallok egy hangot contrasts with definite hallom a hangot.
Topic -ról/-ről and source -tól/-től complements are not objects.
In the perception construction, an accusative participant performs a following -ni infinitive.
Hall is perception, hallgat attentive listening or silence, and meghall bounded successful detection.
Negation and preverbal focus normally separate meg-.

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