Learn Hardcore Hungarian: A barátnőm biztos benne, hogy a sport segít jobban aludni. - My girlfriend is sure that sport helps to sleep better.

Hungarian usually puts the possessor on the noun as a suffix instead of using a separate word like my. So instead of a barátnő + én you just say a barátnőm.

In modern everyday speech, barátnőm is very often understood as my girlfriend, but it can also mean my female friend, depending on context. If someone wants to avoid the romantic meaning, they might say női barátom or be very explicit in context.

Why is there no separate word for my in a barátnőm?

Hungarian normally expresses possession with suffixes, not separate possessive pronouns:

könyv – book
könyvem – my book
barátnő – (female) friend
barátnőm – my (female) friend / my girlfriend

You can add the explicit pronoun az én for emphasis:

az én barátnőm – my girlfriend (as opposed to someone else’s)

but in neutral sentences you just use the suffix -m, so a barátnőm is the normal form.

Why is it biztos benne, and what does benne refer to?

Biztos benne, hogy … is a standard Hungarian pattern:

biztos – sure, certain
benne – in it / in that
hogy … – that …

Literally, it’s something like she is sure in it, that … – i.e. she is sure about the fact that …

Here benne is a pronoun in the inessive case (-ban/-ben, “in”), and it refers to the whole following hogy-clause (hogy a sport segít jobban aludni).

So:

A barátnőm biztos benne, hogy …
= My girlfriend is sure (about it), that …
= My girlfriend is sure that …

Is benne always necessary after biztos before a hogy-clause?

In careful, standard Hungarian, the most complete form is:

Biztos vagyok benne, hogy … – I am sure (in it) that …

However, in everyday speech people often say simply:

Biztos, hogy a sport segít jobban aludni.

This can mean either:

It is certain that sport helps you sleep better. (impersonal statement), or
I’m sure that sport helps you sleep better. (speaker’s opinion, from context)

When referring clearly to someone’s personal certainty (like A barátnőm biztos benne, hogy …), benne is very idiomatic and safe to use. Leaving it out there can sound a bit less natural or a bit more like a general statement, depending on context.

What is the role of hogy here? Is it like English that?

Yes. Here hogy is a conjunction that introduces a subordinate clause, very similar to English that in:

… is sure *that sport helps you sleep better.*

Hungarian often uses hogy after verbs or expressions of:

thinking/believing: úgy gondolja, hogy …, hiszi, hogy …
knowing: tudja, hogy …
saying: mondja, hogy …
being sure: biztos benne, hogy …

So:

… biztos benne, hogy a sport segít jobban aludni.
= … is sure that sport helps you sleep better.

Why does sport have the definite article a in Hungarian, when English uses no article?

In Hungarian, generic statements about a whole class of things very often use the definite article a/az:

A sport egészséges. – Sport is healthy.
A kávé keserű. – Coffee is bitter.

So a sport here does not mean the specific sport, but rather sport in general, the concept of doing sport / exercising.

English often leaves the article out in this generic sense, but Hungarian prefers to include it.

Why is segít in this form, and what does it agree with?

Segít is the 3rd person singular, present tense, indefinite conjugation of segít (to help).

Its subject is a sport:

a sport – 3rd person singular subject
segít – 3rd person singular verb form

It’s indefinite because its “object” is an infinitive (aludni), not a definite thing or person. There is no direct object like őt (him/her) or azt (that) here, so the indefinite form is used.

If there were a definite object, the verb would change, for example:

A sport segíti az egészséget. – Sport helps health. (definite object az egészséget → segíti)

What form is aludni, and why is it used instead of a finite verb like alszom?

Aludni is the infinitive of the verb alud (to sleep).

Many Hungarian verbs, including segít, can take an infinitive to express help someone (to) do something:

segít tanulni – helps (to) study
segít futni – helps (to) run
segít aludni – helps (to) sleep

If you tried to use a finite verb instead, like alszom (I sleep), it would give you a different structure, often needing an extra verb of saying/thinking:

Biztos benne, hogy sportolok, és jobban alszom.
– She is sure that I do sports and I sleep better.

So in this kind of general statement segít + infinitive is the natural construction.

Who is actually sleeping in this sentence? It isn’t stated explicitly.

The sentence is:

A barátnőm biztos benne, hogy a sport segít jobban aludni.

Literally: My girlfriend is sure that sport helps to sleep better.

Hungarian often leaves the “logical subject” of the infinitive implicit. Here, aludni has no explicit subject, so possible readings in English are:

sport helps you sleep better (general you)
sport helps her sleep better
sport helps people sleep better
sport helps one sleep better

Usually the intended meaning is general: doing sport helps you / people sleep better. Context can make it more specific (for example, if they were just talking about her insomnia, it can imply it helps her sleep better).

What does jobban mean, and how is it related to jó and jobb?

jó – good (adjective)
jobb – better (comparative adjective)
jobban – better (comparative adverb)

In Hungarian, comparative adverbs often end in -an/-en:

gyors – fast → gyorsabban – faster (as an adverb)
szép – pretty → szebben – more prettily

Jó is irregular in the sense that its comparative stem is jobb-, but it follows the same pattern:

jobb – better (adjective: jobb alvás – better sleep)
jobban – better (adverb: jobban aludni – to sleep better)

So jobban aludni literally means to sleep in a better way, i.e. to sleep better.

Could the word order in a sport segít jobban aludni be different?

Yes, Hungarian word order is flexible, but it’s used to express emphasis (focus). The given order is neutral:

a sport segít jobban aludni – sport helps to sleep better (simple statement)

Some alternatives:

A sport jobban segít aludni.
– Sport helps more to sleep.
Focus on jobban; implies comparison: compared to something else, sport helps more.
A sport segít aludni jobban.
– possible, but sounds a bit unusual; jobban normally comes immediately before the verb it modifies (aludni), so segít jobban aludni is preferred.
Jobban segít aludni a sport.
– It’s sport that helps you sleep better / Sport helps more with sleep.
Here the focus is on jobban segít aludni; a sport comes last and is de‑emphasized.

For a neutral, textbook-like statement, a sport segít jobban aludni is the most natural.

Why is there a comma before hogy?

Hungarian generally separates a main clause and a subordinate hogy-clause with a comma:

A barátnőm biztos benne, hogy … – main clause
… a sport segít jobban aludni. – subordinate clause introduced by hogy

So the comma before hogy is following the standard punctuation rule: put a comma between the main clause and the subordinate clause starting with hogy.