Tegnap történt valami.

Történt is the past tense form of történik, which means to happen.

So:

• történik = it happens / to happen
• történt = it happened

In this sentence, történt means happened.

In Hungarian, you often do not need a dummy subject like English it.

English says:

• Something happened yesterday
• or sometimes structurally It happened yesterday

But Hungarian can simply say:

• Tegnap történt valami

The verb form itself is enough, and Hungarian does not need an extra subject like English often does.

Hungarian word order is flexible, and it often reflects focus, topic, or what is new information.

In Tegnap történt valami:

• Tegnap = yesterday
• történt = happened
• valami = something

Putting valami at the end makes it sound like the key new piece of information is something. A natural English equivalent is:

• Yesterday, something happened.

This order is completely natural in Hungarian.

Yes. Valami történt tegnap is also correct.

The difference is mainly in emphasis and information structure:

• Tegnap történt valami = Yesterday, something happened; the sentence starts from the time frame yesterday
• Valami történt tegnap = Something happened yesterday; the sentence starts from something

Both are grammatical. Hungarian often changes word order to highlight different parts of the message.

Because valami is the subject of the sentence, not the object.

• valami = something
• valamit = something, as a direct object

Here, something is what happened, so it is the subject:

• Valami történt. = Something happened.

If it were a direct object, then you would expect -t:

• Láttam valamit. = I saw something.

So valami történt is correct, not valamit történt.

Tegnap is a time adverb meaning yesterday. It does not need any extra ending here.

Hungarian often uses bare time words like this:

• ma = today
• tegnap = yesterday
• holnap = tomorrow

So:

• Tegnap történt valami. = Something happened yesterday.

No suffix is needed.

Hungarian past tense is usually formed with a past marker, often seen as -t or -tt, plus personal endings when needed.

With történik, the past form is irregular enough that learners usually just memorize it:

• történik = happens
• történt = happened

Here it is third person singular past.

You do not see a separate word for did like in English. The past meaning is built directly into the verb form.

Because valami already means something, so it is inherently indefinite.

You would not add an article before it. Compare:

• egy dolog = a thing
• valami = something

So valami already carries the idea of an unspecified thing or event.

It is third person singular past tense.

That is because the subject is valami = something, which is grammatically singular.

So the structure is essentially:

• valami történt = something happened

Even though English may sometimes feel impersonal here, Hungarian treats valami as the singular subject.

A simple learner-friendly approximation is:

• TEG-nap TÖR-taynt VAW-law-mi

A few notes:

• tegnap: the g and n are both pronounced; stress is on the first syllable: TEGnap
• történt: Hungarian ö is like a rounded vowel not found in standard English; é is a long ay-like sound
• valami: stress is on the first syllable: VAlami

In Hungarian, the stress is almost always on the first syllable of each word.

Usually, yes, or at least the speaker is choosing not to specify it.

Valami means something, so the event is left vague or unspecified. Depending on context, it can suggest:

• the speaker does not know exactly what happened
• the speaker knows, but is not saying yet
• the important point is simply that an event occurred

So the sentence often has a slightly suspenseful feel: Something happened yesterday.