Breakdown of A diák sportol, mert egészséges akar maradni.
Questions & Answers about A diák sportol, mert egészséges akar maradni.
Hungarian has two definite articles:
- a – used before words starting with a consonant
- az – used before words starting with a vowel (a, á, e, é, i, í, o, ó, ö, ő, u, ú, ü, ű)
The word diák starts with d, a consonant, so you must use a:
- a diák = the student
- az alma = the apple
- az egyetem = the university
So A diák sportol… is the correct form here.
In Hungarian, sportol is a verb that already means “to do sports / to play sports”. You don’t need an extra verb like “do” or “play”.
- sportolok – I do sports / I exercise
- sportolsz – you (sg.) do sports
- sportol – he / she / it does sports / works out
- sportolunk – we do sports
- sportoltok – you (pl.) do sports
- sportolnak – they do sports
So A diák sportol literally is “The student sports”, but in natural English we’d say “The student plays sports” or “The student works out / exercises.”
In Hungarian, you normally put a comma before mert when it introduces a full clause (with its own verb):
- A diák sportol, mert egészséges akar maradni.
The student does sports because he wants to stay healthy.
Here egészséges akar maradni is its own clause (it has the verb akar maradni), so you need a comma.
In practice, written Hungarian almost always puts a comma before mert in this kind of sentence. Spoken Hungarian may pause or not, but the comma is still written.
Yes, you can, and it’s perfectly correct:
- Mert egészséges akar maradni, a diák sportol.
Because he wants to stay healthy, the student does sports.
The meaning is the same; only the emphasis changes slightly:
A diák sportol, mert egészséges akar maradni.
Neutral order: first we state what the student does, then we give the reason.Mert egészséges akar maradni, a diák sportol.
Slightly stronger focus on the reason: because he wants to stay healthy, this is why he does sports.
Both are grammatical and natural.
This is because of the meaning of maradni = “to remain / to stay”.
- egészséges = healthy (adjective)
- egészségesen = healthily, in a healthy way (adverb)
With verbs like lenni (to be) and maradni (to stay), Hungarian normally uses a predicate adjective, not an adverb, to describe the state of the subject:
- egészséges maradni – to stay healthy
- egészséges lenni – to be healthy
If you said egészségesen maradni, it would sound odd, as if you were trying to say “to stay in a healthy manner” rather than “to stay healthy.”
So egészséges akar maradni = “he wants to stay healthy.”
Maradni is the infinitive form of the verb marad (to stay, to remain).
The infinitive in Hungarian is formed by adding -ni to the verb stem:
- marad → maradni – to stay
- olvas → olvasni – to read
- tanul → tanulni – to study
The verb akar means “wants” and it is usually followed by an infinitive:
- akar maradni – wants to stay
- akar olvasni – wants to read
- akar tanulni – wants to study
So egészséges akar maradni literally is “(he) wants to stay healthy.”
Hungarian word order is flexible, but it’s strongly guided by focus (what is emphasized).
In a neutral sentence like this, the usual pattern with a modal verb (akar) and an infinitive (maradni) is:
[What state / action?] + akar + [infinitive]
So:
- egészséges akar maradni – neutral, natural word order.
If you say:
- akar egészséges maradni
this is not wrong, but it sounds less natural and might be used only in a context where you are putting contrastive stress on akar:
- Nem szeretne csak egészséges maradni, hanem akar egészséges maradni.
He doesn’t just *wish to stay healthy, he wants to stay healthy.*
In your sentence, without special emphasis, egészséges akar maradni is the normal choice.
Yes, you can say:
- egészséges akar lenni – he wants to be healthy
- egészséges akar maradni – he wants to stay healthy
The difference is the same as in English:
- lenni (to be) = being in a state, possibly becoming healthy first
- maradni (to stay) = remaining in a state you already have
So:
A diák sportol, mert egészséges akar lenni.
The student may not be fully healthy yet; he wants to become or be healthy.A diák sportol, mert egészséges akar maradni.
He is healthy now and wants to keep it that way.
Your original sentence highlights the idea of staying healthy.
It’s grammatically possible, but it sounds awkward and unnatural in most contexts.
Natural options are:
- A diák sportol, mert egészséges akar maradni. ✅ (neutral, standard)
- A diák sportol, mert egészséges szeretne maradni. ✅ (slightly softer, “would like to”)
Moving akar forward like mert akar egészséges maradni puts a strange focus on akar, as if contrasting it with some other verb (not “has to,” but “wants to”). Without such a contrast, speakers avoid this order.
So in normal speech and writing, stick to egészséges akar maradni.
Yes, the article a changes the meaning:
A diák sportol…
The student does sports… (a specific student, or one already known from context)Diák sportol…
This sounds like a headline or very compressed style: “Student does sports…”
In a full normal sentence, most of the time you would expect an article.
Hungarian does use articles (a / az, egy) similarly to English, though not in exactly all the same situations. In everyday neutral sentences like this, A diák sportol… is the natural form.
Sportol is the 3rd person singular present indefinite form of sportolni (to do sports). Here it matches a diák (the student).
Other forms in the present tense:
- Én sportolok – I do sports
- Te sportolsz – You (sg.) do sports
- Ő sportol – He / she does sports
- Mi sportolunk – We do sports
- Ti sportoltok – You (pl.) do sports
- Ők sportolnak – They do sports
Using the same pattern as your sentence:
Sportolok, mert egészséges akarok maradni.
I do sports because I want to stay healthy.Sportolunk, mert egészségesek akarunk maradni.
We do sports because we want to stay healthy.
Note that in the plural you also make egészséges plural if it describes a plural subject:
- egészségesek akarunk maradni – we want to stay healthy (we = several people)