Questions & Answers about Ma van a születésnapom.
Why do we use van (3rd person of lenni, “to be”) here instead of the 1st person vagyok?
Because Hungarian expresses the occurrence of an event with the third person van. You aren’t saying “I am my birthday” (which would be Én vagyok a születésnapom, and is ungrammatical). Instead, the subject is a születésnapom (“my birthday”), so you need the 3rd person singular of to be, which is van.
Why is there a definite article a before születésnapom? Can it be dropped?
When a noun carries a possessive suffix (like -om for “my”), Hungarian still requires the definite article (a/az) before it if the possessor is in the 1st or 2nd person (and often for 3rd person, too). So a születésnapom is correct. Dropping a would be incorrect.
What does the suffix -om in születésnapom indicate?
The suffix -om marks first-person singular possession. Születésnap means “birthday,” so születésnapom literally means my birthday. Hungarian expresses “my/your/his/her…” by attaching different suffixes to the noun rather than using separate words.
Why don’t we include the pronoun én (“I”) in the sentence?
Hungarian is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns are omitted when the verb ending or the context makes the subject clear. Here the subject is (“my birthday”), not . Plus, since the noun phrase uses the 3rd person form of (), adding would be misleading.