Tavaly utaztunk.

Tavaly means last year. It is an adverb of time, so it gives information about when the action happened.

In Hungarian, time expressions like this often appear near the beginning of the sentence:

• Tavaly utaztunk. = We travelled last year.
• Ma dolgozom. = I am working today.
• Holnap indulunk. = We are leaving tomorrow.

Unlike English, Hungarian does not need a preposition here, so you do not say something equivalent to in last year.

Utaztunk means we travelled or we were travelling, depending on context.

It comes from the verb utazik, which means to travel.

The form breaks down like this:

• utaz- = the verb stem
• -t- = past tense marker
• -unk = we ending

So:

• utaztunk = we travelled

Hungarian verbs usually show the subject in the verb ending, so a separate subject pronoun is often unnecessary.

In utaztunk, the ending -unk already tells you the subject is we.

So:

• Utaztunk. = We travelled.
• Mi utaztunk. = We travelled.

The version with mi is more emphatic, as if you are stressing that we, not someone else, did the travelling.

The past tense is marked by -t- in the verb.

Compare:

• utazunk = we travel / we are travelling
• utaztunk = we travelled

That t is the key sign of the past tense here.

Hungarian past tense is generally straightforward: a past marker is added, then the personal ending.

Both are possible, but the word order changes the emphasis.

• Tavaly utaztunk. puts focus on last year as the time frame.
• Utaztunk tavaly. is also grammatical, but sounds more like the fact of travelling comes first, and tavaly is added afterward.

Hungarian word order is more flexible than English and often reflects focus or what is being highlighted, not just basic grammar.

So Tavaly utaztunk is a very natural way to say We travelled last year when the time expression is important.

The dictionary form is utazik. This is the third person singular present form commonly used to represent the verb.

To make we travelled, Hungarian does not simply replace -ik with -tunk mechanically in a beginner-friendly way; instead, it is better to learn the actual past form:

• utazik = he/she travels
• utazott = he/she travelled
• utaztunk = we travelled

For learners, the important pattern is:

1. take the verb stem utaz-
2. add past tense -t-
3. add the we ending -unk

This gives utaztunk.

Hungarian vowel harmony affects endings. Very roughly:

• words with mostly back vowels tend to take back-vowel endings
• words with mostly front vowels tend to take front-vowel endings

The verb stem utaz- contains back vowels (u, a), so it takes the back-vowel form:

• -unk, not -ünk

That is why you get:

• utaztunk

not

• utaztünk

A rough pronunciation guide:

• tavaly ≈ TAW-voy
• utaztunk ≈ oo-TAHZ-toonk

A few useful points:

• Hungarian stress usually falls on the first syllable of each word.
• a is often pronounced like a short o in English.
• u is like oo in food.
• ly in modern standard Hungarian sounds like y.

So the stress is:

• TA-valy
• U-taztunk

Yes, the sentence is complete as it is.

The verb utazik means to travel, and it does not need an object. You can add more information if you want, but you do not have to.

For example:

• Tavaly utaztunk. = We travelled last year.
• Tavaly Olaszországba utaztunk. = We travelled to Italy last year.
• Tavaly sokat utaztunk. = We travelled a lot last year.

So the basic sentence is perfectly natural on its own.

Yes, depending on context, utaztunk can be understood broadly as:

• we travelled
• we went on a trip
• we were travelling

The exact English translation depends on the situation. Hungarian often leaves this a bit more open than English.

If the meaning has already been given to the learner, the key grammar point is that utaztunk is simply the past-tense we form of utazik.

Yes, that is grammatical, but it has a different emphasis.

• Tavaly utaztunk. = neutral, with time placed first
• Mi tavaly utaztunk. = we travelled last year, possibly contrasting with someone else
• Mi utaztunk tavaly. = also possible, with emphasis depending on context

Hungarian often uses word order and optional pronouns to express emphasis. So adding mi is usually not necessary unless you want to stress the subject.

Yes: in Hungarian, tavaly is a single word, while in English last year is a phrase.

Also, Hungarian time expressions like tavaly are often used very directly, without articles or prepositions:

• tavaly = last year
• idén = this year
• jövőre = next year

So Hungarian packages these ideas more compactly than English often does.