Breakdown of A barátom a hegyekhez utazik, és térképet visz.
Questions & Answers about A barátom a hegyekhez utazik, és térképet visz.
In Hungarian, possessed nouns (like barátom = my friend) normally take a definite article when they are used as a simple subject or object.
- A barátom a hegyekhez utazik.
= My friend is traveling to the mountains.
Leaving out the article is possible but sounds either:
- more literary/old-fashioned (Barátom a hegyekhez utazik.), or
- like direct address (Barátom, gyere ide! = My friend, come here!).
So in neutral, everyday sentences, you usually say A barátom, not just Barátom, when it’s the subject.
- barát = friend (no possessor indicated)
- barátom = my friend
The ending -om is the possessive suffix for “my” on a consonant-ending noun:
- barátom – my friend
- barátod – your friend
- barátja – his/her friend
So barátom literally means friend-my.
Hungarian normally drops subject pronouns, because the person is clear from the verb ending.
- (Ő) utazik – (He/She) travels / is traveling
Here, utazik is 3rd person singular, so it already tells you “he/she/it”.
Adding ő is only for emphasis or contrast:
- Ő a hegyekhez utazik, nem én.
= It’s *he/she who is traveling to the mountains, not me.*
In the neutral sentence, you don’t say ő.
utazik comes from the verb utazni = to travel.
- ő utazik = he/she travels / is traveling / will travel (with future time expression)
The -ik is part of a verb type called “-ik verbs”. In modern usage you mostly see -ik in the 3rd person singular present:
- én utazom / utazok – I travel
- te utazol – you travel
- ő utazik – he/she travels
- mi utazunk – we travel
- ti utaztok – you (pl.) travel
- ők utaznak – they travel
So the -ik is just the normal 3rd person singular ending for this verb, not a separate word.
You can say A barátom a hegyekhez megy, but there is a nuance:
- megy = goes, any kind of going, often on foot, neutral about distance.
- utazik = travels, usually suggests a journey, often by car, train, bus, plane, etc., or at least some distance.
So:
A barátom a hegyekhez utazik.
→ Sounds more like a trip or vacation, a real “journey”.A barátom a hegyekhez megy.
→ Grammatically OK, but more neutral “goes to the mountains” (not highlighting the travel aspect).
For “going on a trip to the mountains”, utazik is the more typical choice.
-hez is a case ending meaning to, toward (called the allative case).
Breakdown:
- hegy – mountain
- hegyek – mountains (-ek = plural)
- hegyekhez – to/toward the mountains (-hez = to)
The ending has three forms because of vowel harmony:
- -hoz after back vowels:
- házhoz – to the house
- -hez after front unrounded vowels (e, é, i, í):
- hegyekhez – to the mountains
- -höz after front rounded vowels (ö, ő, ü, ű):
- nőhöz – to the woman
So hegyek + hez → hegyekhez.
Because here “the mountains” means a mountainous area/region, not one specific mountain.
- a hegyhez – to the mountain (a single mountain)
- a hegyekhez – to the mountains (the mountain region, like “in the mountains”)
This is the same idea as English “the mountains” used as a general destination for hiking, skiing, etc.
All three translate with English “to”, but the nuance is different:
hegyekhez – to(wards) the mountains (allative, -hoz/-hez/-höz)
- Emphasises the direction/approach to the area or to somewhere by the mountains.
- Literally: toward the mountains.
hegyekbe – into the mountains (illative, -ba/-be)
- Very common for “going to the mountains” as a region (for a trip, holiday, etc.).
- A hegyekbe utazik. is often the most natural way to say He is going to the mountains (as a region).
hegyekre – onto the mountains (sublative, -ra/-re)
- More about going up onto the mountains or onto hilly terrain.
- Also used with events/occasions (koncertre megy – goes to a concert).
The sentence with hegyekhez is grammatically fine and means going (at least) to/toward the mountains; in many everyday contexts, Hungarians would more typically say a hegyekbe utazik for “is traveling to the mountains (as a region)”.
Yes, both are possible, but the emphasis changes slightly.
Neutral-sounding version (about your friend, where he’s going):
- A barátom a hegyekhez utazik.
Topic: A barátom (we’re talking about my friend)
New information: a hegyekhez utazik (what he’s doing/where)
Variant:
- A barátom utazik a hegyekhez.
Here, utazik is closer to the focus position, so there’s a bit more emphasis on the fact that he is traveling (as opposed to staying home, for example).
Other orders are also possible with different emphases, e.g.:
- A hegyekhez utazik a barátom.
→ It’s to the mountains that my friend is traveling (emphasis on to the mountains, maybe in contrast with some other place).
As a learner, Subject + Destination + Verb (like in the original) is a good neutral pattern to start with.
The -t is the accusative case ending, marking the direct object of the verb.
- térkép – map
- térképet – map (as a direct object) = a map
Hungarian usually adds a linking vowel before -t if the noun ends in a consonant:
- térkép + -et → térképet
- asztal + -t → asztalt (table → table as object)
So térképet = a map in “takes a map”.
In Hungarian, with a simple, indefinite singular object, you often omit egy if you don’t want to emphasise the number:
- térképet visz – he takes a map (neutral)
- egy térképet visz – he takes *one map* (emphasis on “one”, or introducing it a bit more strongly)
So the sentence without egy is completely normal and does not mean “some maps”; it still means “a map” in English terms, just without stressing the “one”.
Hungarian has two verb conjugations: indefinite and definite, depending on the object.
- visz – 3rd person singular indefinite
- viszi – 3rd person singular definite
You use definite conjugation when the object is specific/definite (with a/az, a demonstrative like ez/az, a proper name, or a possessed noun, etc.):
- A térképet viszi. – He takes *the map.* (we know which map)
You use indefinite when the object is indefinite or non-specific, like here:
- térképet visz – He takes a map. (no article, non-specific)
So: indefinite object → visz, definite object → viszi.
Basic meanings:
- visz – take / carry (away from the speaker’s location)
- hoz – bring (toward the speaker’s location)
The direction is important:
- Elviszem a könyvet. – I’ll take the book (away from here).
- Idehozom a könyvet. – I’ll bring the book here.
In your sentence:
- térképet visz – he is taking a map with him, carrying it along.
You may also see:
- visz magával – literally takes with himself/herself, explicitly stressing that the object goes along with the person.
- Térképet visz magával. – He takes a map with him.
In many contexts, visz alone already implies “take (along)”.
In standard Hungarian punctuation, when és connects two short clauses with the same subject, you usually don’t write a comma:
- A barátom a hegyekhez utazik és térképet visz.
Many native speakers and especially textbooks influenced by English do put a comma, as in your sentence:
- A barátom a hegyekhez utazik, és térképet visz.
This is common and widely understood, but if you aim for strict modern style, it’s more typical without the comma in this case. So:
- Required? → No.
- Acceptable with comma? → Yes, but many editors would remove it here.
Yes, that is possible:
- A barátom a hegyekhez utazik, térképet visz.
This is called asyndetic coordination (listing actions without “and”). It sounds a bit more literary or stylistic, like listing what he does:
- My friend is traveling to the mountains, (he) takes a map.
In everyday, neutral speech or writing, you’d more often keep és:
- A barátom a hegyekhez utazik, és térképet visz. /
- A barátom a hegyekhez utazik és térképet visz.