Breakdown of Szeretné, ha elbújnánk, ugyanis az ünnepelt hamarosan érkezik.
szeretni
to love
az
the
ha
if
érkezni
to arrive
Questions & Answers about Szeretné, ha elbújnánk, ugyanis az ünnepelt hamarosan érkezik.
What exactly is szeretné here?
It is the verb szeret in the 3rd person singular conditional definite form.
So szeretné means roughly:
- he/she would like it
- or you would like it in formal address
It is not simple present likes. That would be szereti if there were a definite object, or szeret without one.
The ending -né tells you two things at once:
- conditional: would like
- definite conjugation: there is a specific understood object
In this sentence, that understood object is the whole following idea: ha elbújnánk.
Is there an omitted azt before ha?
Yes, you can think of the sentence as containing an implied azt:
(Azt) szeretné, ha elbújnánk.
Literally, that is something like:
He/she would like that, if we hid or more naturally, He/she would like us to hide
Hungarian often leaves out azt when the following clause already makes the meaning clear. Including it is possible, but omitting it is very common and natural.
Why is ha used here? Doesn’t ha usually mean if?