Breakdown of A múlt héten nem volt szünet, ezért mindenki fáradt volt.
lenni
to be
-en
in
ezért
therefore
nem
not
múlt
last
hét
the week
szünet
the break
mindenki
everyone
fáradt
tired
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Questions & Answers about A múlt héten nem volt szünet, ezért mindenki fáradt volt.
Why is there a definite article a before múlt héten?
Hungarian often uses the definite article with specific time expressions. Here múlt means “last,” so a múlt héten literally is “the last week,” i.e. “last week.” The article makes it clear you’re talking about one concrete week in the past.
Why does hét take the suffix -n in héten?
The suffix -n is the temporal locative ending used for units like days or weeks to express “on” or “during.” English just says “last week,” but Hungarian needs a case ending to mark time. Thus hét + -n → héten, and a múlt héten = “during last week.”
Why is there no article before szünet in nem volt szünet?
In Hungarian existential negation (stating that something did not exist), you omit the article. So nem volt szünet means “there was no break.” If you added an article (a szünet), it would sound like you’re talking about a particular break that didn’t exist.
What role does volt play in nem volt szünet?
volt is the past-tense form of van (“to be”). In an existential sentence like this, volt links the negation nem to the noun szünet, giving “there was no break.”
Why is there a comma before ezért?
ezért (“therefore/so”) begins the second main clause and connects it back to the first. Hungarian uses a comma to separate two independent clauses when a conjunction or adverbial connective like ezért is used.
What’s the difference between mert and ezért, and why is ezért used here?
mert means “because” and introduces a subordinate clause that explains why something happened; it appears before the verb (e.g. “…nem volt szünet, mert mindenki fáradt volt”). ezért means “therefore/so” and introduces the result in a new main clause, matching our English “so”: “…nem volt szünet, ezért mindenki fáradt volt.”
Why does the verb volt appear at the end of mindenki fáradt volt?
Hungarian generally follows Subject–Predicate–Verb (S–P–V) order in copular sentences. Here mindenki = subject, fáradt = predicate adjective, and volt = verb “was,” so the verb naturally comes last.
Could you omit volt and just say mindenki fáradt for “everyone was tired”?
No—mindenki fáradt without volt reads as a present-tense statement: “everyone is tired.” In past-tense adjectival statements, Hungarian normally keeps the copula volt, so mindenki fáradt volt = “everyone was tired.”
Why is mindenki treated as singular in Hungarian, even though it means “everyone”?
mindenki is an indefinite pronoun that is grammatically singular in Hungarian. Verbs and adjectives agree with it in the singular form (here volt, not voltak), unlike in English where “everyone” sometimes triggers a plural agreement.