Breakdown of A barátom meglepi az ünnepeltet.
barát
the friend
az
the
ünnepelt
the guest of honour
meglepni
to surprise someone
Questions & Answers about A barátom meglepi az ünnepeltet.
What does a mean here, and why is it a instead of az?
A is the Hungarian definite article, equivalent to the.
Hungarian has two forms:
- a before a consonant sound
- az before a vowel sound
So:
- a barátom = the/my friend
- az ünnepeltet because ünnepeltet begins with a vowel sound
This is similar to English a/an, except Hungarian uses the distinction with the definite article.
Where is the word for my in a barátom?
It is built into the noun itself: barátom = friend + my.
The ending -om is a possessive suffix, meaning my. So:
- barát = friend
- barátom = my friend
Hungarian usually marks possession this way instead of using a separate word like English my.
If you want extra emphasis, you can also say:
- az én barátom = my friend / my friend in particular
But normally, just barátom already includes my.
Why does barátom still have the article a if it already means ?