A barátom szeretné, ha az ünnepelt elfújná a tortagyertyát.

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Breakdown of A barátom szeretné, ha az ünnepelt elfújná a tortagyertyát.

• barát: the friend
• az: the
• ha: if

Questions & Answers about A barátom szeretné, ha az ünnepelt elfújná a tortagyertyát.

Why does Hungarian use szeretné, ha... here instead of a simple infinitive like English would like someone to...?

Because Hungarian usually does not use an infinitive when the subject of the main verb and the subject of the second action are different.

In English, you can say:

• My friend would like the celebrant to blow out the candle.

In Hungarian, that idea is normally expressed as:

• szeretné, ha az ünnepelt elfújná...
• literally something like would like it if the celebrant blew out...

If the same person does both actions, Hungarian can use an infinitive more easily. But here my friend and the celebrant are different people, so szeretné, ha... is the natural pattern.

Why is szeretné in the conditional? What exactly does it mean?

Szeretné is the conditional form of szereti? Not exactly in meaning. Here it comes from szeretne / szeretné, which means would like.

So:

• szeret = likes / loves
• szeretne = would like
• szeretné = would like it / would like that

In this sentence, A barátom szeretné... means My friend would like...

The ending -né is the conditional definite form, which fits because what follows is treated as a definite content: ha az ünnepelt elfújná a tortagyertyát.