Learn Hardcore Hungarian: A fiú és a lány néha együtt néznek tévét a nappaliban. - The boy and the girl sometimes watch TV together in the living room.

Saying a fiú és lány sounds incomplete or a bit ungrammatical in standard Hungarian.
You can sometimes drop repeated articles in longer lists (a fiú, lányok és tanárok), but with two specific people like this, you normally repeat the article.

Both fiú and lány are singular. Why is the verb néznek in the plural?

Hungarian, like English, makes the verb agree with the whole subject, not with each part separately.

Subject: a fiú és a lány → together this is they (3rd person plural)
Verb: néznek = they watch / they are watching

So:

A fiú néz tévét. – The boy is watching TV.
A lány néz tévét. – The girl is watching TV.
A fiú és a lány néznek tévét. – The boy and the girl are watching TV.

Because two people are involved together, Hungarian uses the plural verb ending -nak / -nek.

Why is it néznek and not nézik here? What’s the difference?

Hungarian has indefinite and definite conjugation.
You use:

indefinite forms (like néznek) when the object is indefinite or general
definite forms (like nézik) when the object is definite/specific

In the sentence:

néznek tévét = they watch TV (as an activity, in general)
- indefinite object (tévét, no article, general)
- → use néznek (indefinite)

Compare:

A fiú és a lány nézik a tévét.
= The boy and the girl are watching the TV / that TV program (a specific thing)
- definite object (a tévét)
- → use nézik (definite)

So néznek tévét is like English “watch TV (in general)”, not “watch the TV (set/program)”.

Why does tévét end in -t?

The -t is the accusative ending, marking the direct object of the verb.

tévé = TV
tévét = TV (as object) → “TV” in watch TV

Some more examples:

könyv → könyvet – a book → a book (object)
filmet néznek – they are watching a film
almát eszem – I am eating an apple / apples

In this sentence, tévét is the thing being watched, so it takes the accusative -t ending.

Why is there no article before tévét? Why not a tévét?

Without an article, tévét néz means “to watch TV (as an activity)” in general, not a specific television set or program.

tévét néznek – they watch TV (in general, like a hobby)
a tévét nézik – they are watching the TV (a specific, identifiable TV/program)

English often drops the article in this meaning too (“watch TV”), and Hungarian does the same by:

using no article
keeping the accusative -t: tévét

So tévét here is generic, not definite.

What is the role of néha and where does it usually go in the sentence?

néha means sometimes, a frequency adverb.

In neutral sentences, Hungarian generally places time/frequency adverbs before the verb phrase:

A fiú és a lány néha együtt néznek tévét…
= The boy and the girl sometimes watch TV together…

Other acceptable positions:

A fiú és a lány néha a nappaliban együtt néznek tévét.
Néha a nappaliban néznek együtt tévét.

Putting néha right before the verb (or before a small group like együtt néznek) is very common and sounds natural.

What exactly does együtt do here? Do I need something like “with” (val/vel)?

együtt is an adverb meaning together. It describes how they do the action.

együtt néznek tévét = they watch TV together

You do not need -val / -vel here, because the idea of “with each other” is already contained in együtt, and the two people are named in the subject (a fiú és a lány).

You would use -val / -vel when saying “with somebody” as a separate participant:

A fiú a lánnyal néz tévét. – The boy watches TV with the girl.
A lány a fiúval néz tévét. – The girl watches TV with the boy.

In the original sentence, együtt alone is enough: they are doing it together.

Can I change the order of néha and együtt, e.g. együtt néha néznek? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, the order can change, but there is a slight difference in emphasis:

néha együtt néznek tévét
→ Sometimes they watch TV together. (focus on the action sometimes happening, and that it’s together)
együtt néha néznek tévét
→ They together sometimes watch TV. (more emphasis on them being together as a pair; less neutral-sounding)

The most neutral and idiomatic in this sentence is:

A fiú és a lány néha együtt néznek tévét a nappaliban.

Other orders are grammatically possible but might sound marked or less natural in everyday speech.

Does néznek mean “watch” or “are watching”? Where is the continuous/progressive form in Hungarian?

Hungarian doesn’t have a separate continuous tense like English “are watching”. The simple present néznek can cover both:

A fiú és a lány néha együtt néznek tévét.
- They sometimes watch TV together. (habitual)
- They sometimes are watching TV together. (could also describe repeated situations)

Context usually tells you whether it’s a general habit or something happening around “now”. If you need to make “right now” extra clear, you can add an adverb:

Most együtt néznek tévét. – They are watching TV together now.

Why is it a nappaliban and not just nappaliban?

nappali (here) = living room
-ban/-ben = in(side) something (inessive case)
a nappaliban = in the living room

We use the definite article a because we are talking about a specific, known living room (presumably “their” living room).

a nappaliban – in the living room
nappaliban (without a) is grammatically possible, but would sound more like:
- in a living room / in living rooms (very vague or stylistically marked)

In everyday speech, when you mean the living room in this kind of concrete scene, you normally include a: a nappaliban.

Why is the ending -ban and not -ben in nappaliban?

The suffix meaning “in” has two main forms: -ban and -ben.
Which one you use is decided mostly by vowel harmony.

Words with back vowels (a, á, o, ó, u, ú) → -ban
Words with front vowels (e, é, i, í, ö, ő, ü, ű) → -ben

The word nappali contains:

a, a (back vowels)
i (a neutral front vowel that doesn’t force -ben)

Because it has back vowels, it takes -ban:

nappali → nappaliban = in the living room

Other examples:

szoba (room) → szobában – in the room
kert (garden) → kertben – in the garden

Could I say A fiú és a lány tévét néznek a nappaliban instead? Is that different?

Yes, that sentence is grammatically correct:

A fiú és a lány tévét néznek a nappaliban.

The difference is mainly word order and emphasis:

A fiú és a lány néha együtt néznek tévét a nappaliban.
→ neutral statement, with explicit mention of sometimes and together.
A fiú és a lány tévét néznek a nappaliban.
→ more neutral description like “The boy and the girl watch TV in the living room.”
(no néha / együtt, and tévét comes earlier, so “TV” is a bit more central)

Hungarian word order is flexible; what changes most is what is emphasized or presented as new information.

How would the sentence change if I used a pronoun instead of a fiú és a lány?

If it’s already clear who you are talking about, Hungarian prefers pronouns (or even omitting them):

Ők néha együtt néznek tévét a nappaliban.
= They sometimes watch TV together in the living room.

But very often you would just drop the pronoun:

Néha együtt néznek tévét a nappaliban.
= (They) sometimes watch TV together in the living room.

Hungarian doesn’t need the pronoun ők because the verb ending -nek already shows it’s they (3rd person plural).