Itt tilos sietni.

to be

Breakdown of Itt tilos sietni.

• itt: here
• sietni: to hurry
• tilos: forbidden

Questions & Answers about Itt tilos sietni.

Why is there no to be verb here?

Hungarian drops the copula in 3rd person singular present when the predicate is a noun or adjective. So you don’t say van here.

• Present: Itt tilos sietni.
• Past/Future: Itt tilos volt sietni. / Itt tilos lesz sietni.
  Note that van would appear if the predicate is a place expression, e.g. A fiú itt van, but not with an adjective like tilos.

Why is sietni in the -ni form? What is that?

The -ni ending is the infinitive, like English to + verb. After tilos (forbidden), the action is expressed with an infinitive:

• Dohányozni tilos.
• Parkolni tilos.
• Belépni tilos.
  So here, sietni means the action of hurrying in general.

Can I say siet instead of sietni?

No. Siet is a finite verb form and would need a subject. To express prohibition in Hungarian, the natural pattern is tilos + infinitive. A clause like Itt tilos, hogy valaki siessen is grammatical but clunky and not how prohibitions are normally stated.

Can the word order change? For example Tilos itt sietni or Sietni itt tilos?