Breakdown of A diák ma nehezen tanul, mert fáradt.
Questions & Answers about A diák ma nehezen tanul, mert fáradt.
No. Hungarian A here is the definite article, and it means the:
- A diák = the student
- Egy diák = a student / one student
So A ≈ English the, while egy ≈ English a / an / one.
Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:
- a before consonant sounds: a diák, a ház
- az before vowel sounds: az alma, az ember
Since diák starts with d (a consonant sound), you use a, not az.
In Hungarian, the verb van (to be) is usually omitted in the third person singular and plural, present tense, when it is followed by:
- a noun:
- Ő diák. – He/She is a student. (no van)
- an adjective:
- Ő fáradt. – He/She is tired. (no van)
So:
- mert fáradt literally: because (he/she) tired
but it means: because (he/she) is tired
If you say mert van fáradt, it is ungrammatical. The copula van is simply not used here.
Tanul is present tense, 3rd person singular, indefinite conjugation.
Hungarian present tense usually covers both:
- He studies (simple present)
- He is studying (present continuous)
So:
- A diák ma nehezen tanul.
can be understood as:- The student studies with difficulty today.
- The student is having a hard time studying today.
Hungarian doesn’t form a separate continuous tense here; context and time words (like ma, today) give the nuance.
- nehéz = difficult / hard / heavy (adjective)
- Ez a feladat nehéz. – This exercise is difficult.
- nehezen = with difficulty / hardly / in a hard way (adverb)
In nehezen tanul:
- nehéz
- adverb-forming suffix -en → nehezen
- literally: learns with difficulty
So nehezen tanul means something like:
- He/She has a hard time studying.
- He/She finds it difficult to study.
You cannot say nehéz tanul in this sense; you need the adverb nehezen to describe how he studies.
No, that is incorrect.
- nehéz is an adjective, used to describe nouns:
- nehéz feladat – a difficult task
- To describe how someone does something (the manner of the action), Hungarian needs an adverb:
- nehezen tanul – studies with difficulty
So:
- ✅ A diák ma nehezen tanul. – correct
- ❌ A diák ma nehéz tanul. – wrong
Tanul means both to study and to learn, depending on context:
- A diák tanul. – The student is studying / learning.
- Magyarul tanulok. – I’m learning Hungarian.
- Vizsgára tanul. – He/She is studying for an exam.
There is no strict separation like English study vs learn; tanul covers both ideas.
In Hungarian, subordinate clauses introduced by mert (because) are normally separated by a comma, just like in English:
- A diák ma nehezen tanul, mert fáradt.
– The student is studying with difficulty today, because (he/she) is tired.
So you generally write a comma before mert when it introduces a reason clause.
Hungarian often drops subject pronouns when they are clear from context or verb endings.
Here:
- First clause: A diák ma nehezen tanul – establishes the subject.
- Second clause: mert fáradt – Hungarian assumes the same subject as before (the student).
You could say:
- A diák ma nehezen tanul, mert ő fáradt.
This is grammatically correct, but the extra ő usually adds emphasis:
- “…because he/she is tired (as opposed to someone else).”
In a neutral sentence, the simple mert fáradt is more natural.
Hungarian nouns and pronouns do not have grammatical gender in the way English has he/she.
- A diák can mean:
- the student (male)
- the student (female)
If you need to specify gender, you add extra words (e.g., fiú diák – male student, lány diák – female student), but grammatically diák itself is gender-neutral.
Plural form:
- A diákok ma nehezen tanulnak, mert fáradtak.
Changes:
- diák → diákok (plural noun)
- tanul → tanulnak (3rd person plural verb)
- fáradt → fáradtak (plural adjective agreeing with the plural subject)
The most neutral version is:
- A diák ma nehezen tanul, mert fáradt.
Other possibilities:
- Ma a diák nehezen tanul, mert fáradt. – Slight emphasis on today.
- A diák nehezen tanul ma, mert fáradt. – Possible, but sounds less neutral; focus can shift more to nehezen tanul.
In everyday speech, ma tends to appear early, often right after the subject or even at the start of the sentence. The basic meaning (“today”) doesn’t change, but the focus and rhythm of the sentence can shift slightly.
Hungarian verbs have:
- indefinite conjugation (used when the object is absent or indefinite)
- definite conjugation (used when the object is definite: the book, that thing, him/her, etc.)
In this sentence:
- tanul has no direct object (we don’t say what he studies)
- not a könyvet tanul or a verset tanul, etc.
So the verb uses indefinite conjugation:
- (Ő) tanul. – He/She studies / is studying.
If you added a definite object:
- A diák ma nehezen tanulja a verset.
– The student is having a hard time learning the poem.
Here tanulja is the definite form.
Yes, you can say:
- A diák ma nehezen tanul, mert ő fáradt.
This is grammatically fine. The difference:
- mert fáradt – neutral: “…because (he/she) is tired.”
- mert ő fáradt – puts extra emphasis on ő:
- “…because he/she is tired (not for some other reason / not someone else).”
So native speakers use mert ő fáradt when they want to stress the person. Otherwise, mert fáradt is more typical.
Negation is made with nem in front of the verb:
- A diák ma nem tanul könnyen, mert fáradt.
– The student is not studying easily today because he is tired.
Or, keeping nehezen but emphasizing the contrast:
- A diák ma nem tanul, mert fáradt.
– The student is not studying today because he is tired.
Basic rule: nem goes before the verb (or, in complex verb phrases, before the main verb element).