A barátnőm nem evett pizzát, mert diétázott.

My girlfriend did not eat pizza because she was on a diet.

Breakdown of A barátnőm nem evett pizzát, mert diétázott.

• enni: to eat
• mert: because
• nem: not
• barátnő: the girlfriend
• pizza: the pizza
• diétázni: to diet

Questions & Answers about A barátnőm nem evett pizzát, mert diétázott.

How do you express my girlfriend in Hungarian? Why is it barátnőm instead of just barátnő?

Hungarian uses possessive suffixes attached directly to the noun:

• barátnő = “girlfriend”
• -m = 1st person singular possessor (“my …”)
  Result: barátnő + m = barátnőm, meaning “my girlfriend.”

Why is nem evett used here? What tense and conjugation is it?

“nem evett” is the 3rd person singular past indefinite of enni (“to eat”), negated by nem:

• evett = “(he/she) ate” (indefinite past)
• nem evett = “(he/she) did not eat”

Why does pizza take an -t and become pizzát?

Hungarian marks direct objects with the accusative suffix -t. With vowel harmony, pizza ends in “a,” so it lengthens to “á”:
pizza + t → pizzát

What’s the difference between evett and ette?

Hungarian distinguishes definite vs. indefinite conjugation for transitive verbs:

• evett = past indefinite (“ate” something non-specific/indefinite)
• ette = past definite (“ate” a specific/definite object)
  Example:
• A barátnőm nem evett pizzát. (“My girlfriend didn’t eat pizza.” – pizza in general)
• A barátnőm nem ette meg a pizzát. (“My girlfriend didn’t eat the pizza.” – that particular pizza)

Why is there a comma before mert?

In Hungarian punctuation, you place a comma before subordinating conjunctions (e.g., mert, ha, amikor) to separate the main clause from the subordinate clause.

Can I use mivel instead of mert for “because”?

Yes. mivel also means “because” or “since,” but it’s slightly more formal and typically appears at the beginning of the subordinate clause:

• Mivel diétázott, nem evett pizzát.

Why is diétázott in past tense, and how is it formed?

diétázik = “to diet.” For the 3rd person singular past indefinite, add -ott/-ett/-ött by vowel harmony:

• diétáz + ott = diétázott = “(he/she) was dieting” or “dieted.”

Why is there no meg in nem evett pizzát, and what would it mean if you added it?

The prefix meg marks a completive aspect (“to eat up/finish eating”). Without meg, the sentence simply states “did not eat pizza.” With meg, it implies failing to finish it:

• nem evett meg pizzát = “didn’t finish eating pizza” (often specified as nem ette meg a pizzát = “didn’t eat up the pizza”).