Ma jobban alszom, mert fáradt vagyok.

Today I sleep better because I am tired.

Breakdown of Ma jobban alszom, mert fáradt vagyok.

• lenni: to be
• ma: today
• mert: because
• fáradt: tired
• aludni: to sleep
• jobban: better

Questions & Answers about Ma jobban alszom, mert fáradt vagyok.

What exactly does jobban mean, and what is it related to?

Jobban means “better” (in the sense of “more well”) and is the comparative form of the adverb jól (“well”).

• jó = good (adjective)
• jobb = better (comparative adjective: a better book, better weather)
• jól = well (adverb: sleep well, work well)
• jobban = better / more well (comparative adverb: sleep better, work better)

So in Ma jobban alszom, jobban modifies the verb alszom (“I sleep”), literally “I sleep better today.”

Why is there no word for “I” in the sentence? Where is the subject?

Hungarian usually drops personal pronouns when the verb form already shows the person and number.

• alszom already tells you it’s 1st person singular (“I sleep”).
• Therefore, Én (“I”) is normally omitted:
  
  • Ma jobban alszom = “I will sleep better today.”

You would only add Én for emphasis or contrast:

• Én ma jobban alszom. = I will sleep better today (as opposed to someone else / some other day).

Why is the verb alszom and not something like alsok or aludok?

The infinitive is aludni (“to sleep”), and it conjugates a bit irregularly.

• Infinitive: aludni
• Stem in the present tense: alsz-
• 1st person singular ending: -om

So:

• alsz-
  • -om → alszom = I sleep

Other present-tense forms:

• (én) alszom – I sleep
• (te) alszol – you sleep
• (ő) alszik – he/she sleeps
• (mi) alszunk – we sleep
• (ti) alszotok – you (pl.) sleep
• (ők) alszanak – they sleep

So alszom is the correct 1st person singular form, not alsok or aludok.

Why is the Hungarian sentence in the present tense if the English translation uses “will sleep”?

Hungarian often uses the simple present to talk about the near future, especially when there is a time expression like ma (“today”).

• Ma jobban alszom.
  Literally: “Today I sleep better.”
  Natural English: “I will sleep better today.”

Because ma clearly places the action in (near) future time, Hungarian doesn’t need a separate future tense here. English prefers “will sleep”, but Hungarian has no problem with simple present in this context.

Could you say “Ma jobban fogok aludni” instead of “Ma jobban alszom”? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can, and it’s correct:

• Ma jobban alszom.
• Ma jobban fogok aludni.

Both can mean “I will sleep better today.”

Difference in feel:

• Ma jobban alszom.

  • More natural, neutral, everyday.
  • Very commonly used for the future with a time word like ma.

• Ma jobban fogok aludni.

  • Uses the auxiliary “fog” to mark the future more explicitly.
  • Can sound a bit more deliberate, planned, or emphatic, e.g. you’ve decided you will try to sleep better.

In many contexts, both are interchangeable, but simple present + time word is the default in spoken Hungarian.

Why is the word order “Ma jobban alszom”? Could I say “Ma alszom jobban” or “Jobban alszom ma”?

All three are grammatically possible, but the focus and emphasis change.

1. Ma jobban alszom.

   • Neutral, common version.
   • Roughly: “Today I’ll sleep better (than usual / than yesterday).”
   • jobban is in a relatively strong position, so the comparison (better) is highlighted.

2. Ma alszom jobban.

   • Emphasis shifts more to ma (“today”).
   • Implies: Today is when I’ll sleep better (not yesterday, not tomorrow).
   • Could be used when contrasting days:
     
     • Ma alszom jobban, tegnap rosszul aludtam. – Today I sleep better; yesterday I slept badly.

3. Jobban alszom ma.

   • Puts jobban first, giving strong emphasis to better.
   • Very close to: “I’ll sleep better today” (stronger stress on better).
   • Often sounds slightly more contrastive: better today as opposed to some other situation.

In everyday, neutral speech, Ma jobban alszom is the most typical choice.

Why is there a comma before mert in „Ma jobban alszom, mert fáradt vagyok.”?

In Hungarian, you normally put a comma before coordinating conjunctions like:

• mert (because)
• és (and)
• de (but)
• vagy (or) – in many cases

When they join two clauses (two separate “mini-sentences”), the comma is standard:

• Ma jobban alszom, mert fáradt vagyok.
  
  • Clause 1: Ma jobban alszom.
  • Clause 2: (mert) fáradt vagyok.

In informal writing, some people may sometimes omit it, but the correct, standard written form has the comma.

What is the difference between mert and mivel for “because”? Could I say „Ma jobban alszom, mivel fáradt vagyok.”?

You can say:

• Ma jobban alszom, mivel fáradt vagyok.

Both mert and mivel can mean “because”, but there are nuances:

• mert

  • The most common, neutral “because”.
  • Very frequent in spoken Hungarian.
  • Explains the reason in a straightforward way.

• mivel

  • Also “because/since,” but can sound a bit more formal, or like “since / given that”.
  • Often used when the reason is treated more like background information or an assumption.

In this simple sentence, mert is the most natural choice; mivel is correct but slightly more formal or bookish.

Why is it “fáradt vagyok” and not “vagyok fáradt”? Does word order matter here?

Yes, word order matters.

• The neutral, normal order is:
  fáradt vagyok = “I am tired.”

The pattern in such sentences is typically:

• [adjective / noun (predicate)] + vagyok / vagy / van …

Putting vagyok first (“vagyok fáradt”) would sound unnatural or strongly marked in most contexts. It could only appear in very special emphatic contexts (and even then it’s unusual).

So:

• Use fáradt vagyok as the standard, neutral way to say “I am tired.”

Sometimes Hungarian drops the verb “to be” in the present tense, but here we say vagyok. Why?

Hungarian only drops the verb “to be” (lenni) in the 3rd person singular/plural, present tense, in simple “X is Y” sentences.

Examples where it is dropped:

• Ő fáradt. – He/She is tired.
• A ház nagy. – The house is big.
• A diákok okosak. – The students are clever.

But in 1st and 2nd person, you must keep the verb:

• (Én) fáradt vagyok. – I am tired.
• (Te) fáradt vagy. – You are tired.

So in our sentence:

• fáradt vagyok (1st person) → vagyok must be present.
• You cannot say “fáradt” alone to mean “I am tired.”

Could the sentence start with the reason: “Mert fáradt vagyok, ma jobban alszom.”?

Yes, that is grammatically correct:

• Mert fáradt vagyok, ma jobban alszom.
  = “Because I am tired, I will sleep better today.”

Differences:

• Ma jobban alszom, mert fáradt vagyok.

  • More common in everyday speech.
  • States the main statement first, then gives the reason.

• Mert fáradt vagyok, ma jobban alszom.

  • Puts more attention on the reason at the beginning.
  • Sounds a bit more like written style, or like you’re explicitly highlighting the cause.

Both are fine; the first one is more typical in spoken language.

What is the difference between jobban alszom and többet alszom?

They express different ideas:

• jobban alszom = I sleep better

  • Focus on the quality of sleep (deeper, more restful, less disturbed).

• többet alszom = I sleep more

  • Focus on the quantity (more hours, more time).

Examples:

• Ma jobban alszom, mert fáradt vagyok.
  – I’ll sleep better today, because I’m tired (sleep will be of higher quality).

• Ma többet alszom, mert fáradt vagyok.
  – I’ll sleep more today, because I’m tired (I’ll sleep longer / go to bed earlier or wake up later).

So jobban = “better,” többet = “more (of it).”

What is the stress pattern in “Ma jobban alszom, mert fáradt vagyok”? Which words are stressed?

In Hungarian, stress is almost always on the first syllable of each word, and normally the first content word of the sentence gets the main sentence-level stress.

For the neutral version:

• MA jobban alszom, mert FÁradt VAGYok.

More precisely:

• Primary sentence stress tends to fall on Ma (it’s the first word and an important time expression).
• Within each word, the first syllable is stressed:
  • MA
  • JOB-ban
  • AL-szom
  • MERT
  • FÁ-radt
  • VA-gyok

If you want to emphasize another word (e.g. jobban), you can change both the word order and the intonation, e.g. Jobban alszom ma… with strong stress on JOB-.

Why is it fáradt and not fárad? Is there a difference?

Yes, they are different forms:

• fáradt

  • Adjective: “tired.”
  • fáradt vagyok = “I am tired.”

• fárad

  • Verb: “to get tired,” “to become tired” (3rd person present: he/she gets tired).
  • e.g. Gyorsan fárad. – He/She gets tired quickly.

In our sentence, we need an adjective because we’re saying “I am tired”, not “I get tired”. So fáradt is required:

• mert fáradt vagyok – because I am tired.

What is the difference between “fáradt vagyok” and “elfáradtam”?

Both are related to being tired, but they focus on different aspects:

• fáradt vagyok

  • Literally: “I am tired.”
  • Describes your current state.
  • Can be used without saying when or how it happened.

• elfáradtam

  • Literally: “I got tired / I became tired.”
  • Past tense, focuses on the process or result of getting tired (from some activity).
  • Often implies you have just become tired now, because of something you did.
  • e.g. Sokat futottam, elfáradtam. – I ran a lot, I got tired.

You could say:

• Ma jobban alszom, mert fáradt vagyok. – I’ll sleep better today because I am (already) tired.
• Ma jobban alszom, mert nagyon elfáradtam. – I’ll sleep better today because I got very tired (from what I did).