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Learn Hardcore Hungarian: A csapattársak tempója azonos. - The teammates' pace is the same.

Hardcore Hungarian
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/A csapattársak tempója azonos.

A csapattársak tempója azonos.

Word

A csapattársak tempója azonos.

Meaning

The teammates' pace is the same.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Hungarian

Lesson

Training for a charity run

Breakdown of A csapattársak tempója azonos.

identical or the same

Questions & Answers about A csapattársak tempója azonos.

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

In Hungarian, the verb to be is often left out in the present tense, third person when the predicate is a noun or an adjective.

So:

A csapattársak tempója azonos. = literally something like The teammates' pace identical. = natural English: The teammates' pace is identical.

You would normally see van or vannak in other situations, but not here.

For example:

A tempó azonos. = The pace is identical.
A tempó gyors. = The pace is fast.

But:

A tempó gyors volt. = The pace was fast.
A tempó gyors lesz. = The pace will be fast.

So this omission is completely normal.

Why does tempója end in -ja?

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The ending -ja is a possessive suffix. Hungarian usually marks possession on the thing possessed, not with something like English 's.

Here:

tempó = pace
tempója = his/her/its pace or, in this kind of structure, the pace of ...

So:

a csapattársak tempója = the teammates' pace

This is a very common Hungarian pattern.

A key point: when the possessor is explicitly named and the possessed thing is singular, Hungarian normally uses the third-person singular possessive suffix on the possessed noun:

a fiúk könyve = the boys' book
a tanárok véleménye = the teachers' opinion
a csapattársak tempója = the teammates' pace

So even though csapattársak is plural, tempója is correct.

Why is tempója singular even though csapattársak is plural?

Because csapattársak is the possessor (the teammates), while tempója is the main noun of the phrase.

The sentence is about one pace belonging to or associated with the teammates as a group:

a csapattársak tempója = the teammates' pace

Hungarian is not saying there are multiple paces here. It treats pace as a singular thing.

If you wanted to talk about multiple paces, you would use a plural possessed noun instead:

A csapattársak tempói azonosak. = The teammates' paces are identical.

So in your sentence, singular tempója means the speaker is treating it as one shared or collective pace.

Why is azonos singular and not plural?

Because the grammatical subject is not csapattársak by itself. The real subject is the whole noun phrase:

A csapattársak tempója = the teammates' pace

The head of that phrase is tempója, and tempója is singular. So the predicate adjective is singular too:

tempója azonos

If the subject were plural, the adjective would usually be plural as well:

A tempók azonosak. = The paces are identical.
A csapattársak tempói azonosak. = The teammates' paces are identical.

So azonos is singular because tempója is singular.

Why is there an article A at the beginning?

A is the Hungarian definite article, meaning the.

Here it makes the whole phrase definite:

A csapattársak tempója = the teammates' pace

Hungarian often uses the definite article before the possessor in a possessive phrase like this.

Compare:

a fiú könyve = the boy's book
a csapattársak tempója = the teammates' pace

So the article belongs naturally in this structure.

Why doesn’t csapattársak have a special ending to show possession, like English teammates'?

Because Hungarian possession works differently from English.

In English, the possessor gets marked:

the teammates' pace

In Hungarian, the possessed noun gets marked instead:

a csapattársak tempója

So:

csapattársak = teammates
tempója = their/the teammates' pace

Hungarian can also mark the possessor more explicitly with -nak/-nek, but that is not necessary here:

A csapattársaknak a tempója azonos.

This version is more explicit or contrastive. The version without -nak/-nek is perfectly normal and more neutral.

What exactly is csapattársak made of?

Csapattársak is a compound noun plus a plural ending:

csapat = team
társ = companion / partner / associate
csapattárs = teammate
csapattársak = teammates

The double tt comes from the end of csapat and the beginning of társ coming together:

csapat
- társ → csapattárs

Then the plural ending is added:

csapattárs → csapattársak

So the word is very literal: team-companion(s).

Could the word order be different?

Yes. Hungarian word order is flexible, and changing it often changes the focus or emphasis.

Your sentence:

A csapattársak tempója azonos.

This is a neutral statement: the topic is the teammates' pace, and the comment about it is identical.

You could also say:

Azonos a csapattársak tempója.

This puts more focus on azonos: It is identical, the teammates' pace / The teammates' pace is indeed identical.

So the original order is natural and neutral, but other orders are possible depending on emphasis.

Is azonos the same as egyforma or ugyanaz?

Not exactly.

azonos = identical, the same, often a bit more formal or precise
egyforma = the same, alike, uniform, often more everyday
ugyanaz = the very same one / exactly the same thing

In this sentence, azonos works well because it describes equivalence or sameness of pace in a fairly neutral, slightly formal way.

Possible alternatives:

A csapattársak tempója egyforma. = The teammates' pace is the same / uniform.

But ugyanaz would usually be used a bit differently, often when identifying something as literally the same one:

Ez ugyanaz a tempó. = This is the same pace.

So azonos is a good choice here.

How is this sentence pronounced?

A rough pronunciation guide:

A ≈ short o in British hot (but not exactly)
cs = ch as in chip
tempója: the ó is long, and j sounds like English y
azonos: stress is on the first syllable, as in all Hungarian words

Very roughly:

A csapattársak tempója azonos
≈ uh CHAW-pawt-taar-shawk TEM-po-yaw AW-zo-nosh

A few helpful points:

Hungarian always stresses the first syllable of each word.
á is a long vowel.
ó is also a long vowel.
s in Hungarian is like English sh.
sz is like English s.
cs is like English ch.

So pronunciation is much more regular than in English.

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