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Learn Hardcore Hungarian: A piknik szombaton lesz. - The picnic will be on Saturday.

Hardcore Hungarian
/Having a picnic with friends
/A piknik szombaton lesz.

A piknik szombaton lesz.

A piknik szombaton lesz.

The picnic will be on Saturday.

Breakdown of A piknik szombaton lesz.

Questions & Answers about A piknik szombaton lesz.

What does a mean at the beginning of the sentence?

A is the definite article in Hungarian, like the in English.

So a piknik means the picnic.

Hungarian has two definite articles:

a before words that begin with a consonant
az before words that begin with a vowel

Since piknik starts with p, it takes a: a piknik.

Why is it a piknik and not egy piknik?

Egy means a/an, one, so egy piknik would mean a picnic in an indefinite sense.

Here, a piknik suggests that the speaker and listener both know which picnic is being talked about. That is why Hungarian uses the definite article.

Compare:

A piknik szombaton lesz. = The picnic will be on Saturday.
Egy piknik szombaton lesz. = A picnic will be on Saturday.
This sounds more like introducing one picnic among others, not a specific already-known event.

What does szombaton mean, and why doesn’t it just say szombat?

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Szombat means Saturday.

Szombaton means on Saturday.

The ending -on is a case ending that here expresses time, similar to English on in phrases like on Saturday.

So:

szombat = Saturday
szombaton = on Saturday

Hungarian often uses endings where English uses prepositions.

Why is the ending -on used in szombaton?

The ending comes from the suffix family -on / -en / -ön / -n, which often means on or can mark a time expression.

With days of the week, Hungarian commonly uses these forms:

hétfőn = on Monday
kedden = on Tuesday
szerdán = on Wednesday
csütörtökön = on Thursday
pénteken = on Friday
szombaton = on Saturday

So szombaton is simply the normal Hungarian way to say on Saturday.

For a learner, it is best to memorize the day names together with their on + day forms.

What does lesz mean?

Lesz is the future form of the verb lenni, which means to be.

In this sentence, lesz means will be.

So the structure is:

a piknik = the picnic
szombaton = on Saturday
lesz = will be

Hungarian often uses lesz when talking about something that will exist, happen, or take place in the future.

Why does Hungarian use lesz here instead of something like fog?

Hungarian has more than one way to talk about the future.

One common future pattern is:

fog + infinitive

For example:

A piknik szombaton fog lenni.

This is grammatically possible, but in many everyday situations lesz is more natural and simpler.

So:

A piknik szombaton lesz. = natural, common
A piknik szombaton fog lenni. = possible, but often less idiomatic here

With the verb to be, Hungarian very often just uses lesz rather than fog lenni.

Is the word order fixed, or could I also say Szombaton lesz a piknik?

Yes, you could also say Szombaton lesz a piknik.

Hungarian word order is more flexible than English, and it often reflects focus or what the speaker wants to emphasize.

These versions are both correct:

A piknik szombaton lesz.
Szombaton lesz a piknik.

A rough difference in emphasis:

A piknik szombaton lesz.
More neutral: you are stating something about the picnic.
Szombaton lesz a piknik.
More emphasis on Saturday: that is the important piece of information.

So the sentence structure can change, but the meaning stays very similar.

Why is lesz at the end of the sentence?

In a neutral Hungarian sentence, the verb often comes later than it would in English.

Hungarian is not as rigidly subject–verb–object as English. The position of the verb depends a lot on sentence structure and emphasis.

In A piknik szombaton lesz, the order is natural and neutral:

topic: A piknik
time expression: szombaton
verb: lesz

For an English speaker, this may feel unusual, but it is completely normal Hungarian word order.

Do I need to capitalize szombat in Hungarian?

No. In Hungarian, the names of the days of the week are not capitalized unless they begin the sentence.

So normally:

szombat
szombaton

But at the start of a sentence:

Szombaton lesz a piknik.

This is different from English, where Saturday is always capitalized.

How is the sentence pronounced?

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

aw PIK-neek SOM-baw-ton less

A few useful notes:

a is pronounced like a short open vowel, not like English uh exactly
piknik sounds very close to the international word picnic
sz in Hungarian is pronounced like English s
s by itself in Hungarian is pronounced like English sh
lesz sounds like less

So szombaton begins with a plain s sound, not sh.

Is piknik a native Hungarian word?

No, piknik is a loanword, ultimately related to English picnic. That is why it may look familiar.

Even though the noun itself is borrowed, the grammar around it is fully Hungarian:

a piknik = the picnic
pikniken = at the picnic
pikniket = picnic as a direct object

So this sentence is a nice example of a familiar-looking noun inside a fully Hungarian structure.

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