Questions & Answers about Ma külön megyünk a parkba.
Külön means separately or apart (from each other).
In this sentence it tells us that we are not going together as one group. For example:
- Ma megyünk a parkba. – We’re going to the park today.
- Ma külön megyünk a parkba. – We’re going to the park today, but each of us goes separately / not together.
It does not mean alone in the sense of “without anyone”, but rather “not in the same group / not together with the others”. For “alone, by oneself”, Hungarian usually uses egyedül.
Hungarian word order is flexible, but it changes the emphasis. All of these are grammatically possible:
Ma külön megyünk a parkba.
Neutral: Today we’re going separately to the park.Ma a parkba külön megyünk.
Emphasis that it’s to the park that we are going separately (maybe somewhere else we go together).Külön megyünk ma a parkba.
Emphasis on külön: it’s separately (not together) that we’re going today to the park.A parkba ma külön megyünk.
Emphasis on a parkba (the destination) and then on ma vs other days.
The original Ma külön megyünk a parkba is the most neutral and natural for “Today we’re going to the park separately.”
Hungarian usually omits personal pronouns (like én, te, mi) because the verb ending already shows the subject.
- megyek – I go
- mész – you (sg) go
- megyünk – we go
- mentek – you (pl) go
So:
- Mi ma külön megyünk a parkba. – We are going separately to the park today.
- Ma külön megyünk a parkba. – Same meaning; mi is understood from -ünk.
You only add mi for emphasis or contrast, e.g.:
- Mi ma külön megyünk a parkba, ők együtt mennek.
We are going separately today, they are going together.
The dictionary form of the verb is menni (to go).
Megyünk is:
- megy- – present-tense stem
- -ünk – first person plural ending (we)
So:
- én megyek – I go
- te mész – you go
- ő megy – he/she/it goes
- mi megyünk – we go
- ti mentek – you (plural) go
- ők mennek – they go
It’s an irregular verb: the infinitive menni doesn’t directly show the present stem megy- or mész; you just have to learn it.
Hungarian often uses the simple present for planned or scheduled future actions, especially when a time expression like ma (today), holnap (tomorrow), etc. makes the time clear.
So Ma külön megyünk a parkba is naturally understood as:
- We’re going separately to the park today. (plan for later today) not only as
- We (generally) go separately to the park today.
If you really want to emphasize the future, you can also say:
- Ma külön el fogunk menni a parkba. – We will (definitely) go separately to the park today.
But in everyday speech the simple present is more common.
-ba is an illative case ending. It usually means into or to (the inside of something).
- park – park
- parkba – into the park / to the park (as a destination)
Basic related endings:
- -ba / -be – into (movement inside)
- -ban / -ben – in (location inside)
Examples:
- Bemegyünk a parkba. – We go into the park.
- A parkban sétálunk. – We are walking in the park.
Hungarian has vowel harmony. The choice between -ba and -be depends on the vowels in the word:
- Words with back vowels (a, á, o, ó, u, ú): take -ba
- Words with front vowels (e, é, i, í, ö, ő, ü, ű): take -be
park has the vowel a, which is a back vowel, so it takes:
- park + ba → parkba
If the word were something like kert (garden, front vowel e), you’d say:
- kertbe – into the garden
In this context, the natural Hungarian form is with the definite article:
- Ma külön megyünk a parkba. – We are going to the park.
Without the article:
- Ma külön megyünk parkba.
This is not wrong grammatically, but it sounds unusual or stylistic; in normal speech you’d almost always say a parkba here.
Hungarian often uses a / az with place nouns in concrete, one-time actions:
- Megyek az iskolába. – I’m going to school.
- Hazamegyek. – I’m going home. (here haza is adverbial, no article)
So, in everyday language, prefer:
- a parkba, az iskolába, a boltba, etc.
They all express different kinds of relation to park:
parkba – into / to the park (inside as destination)
- Ma külön megyünk a parkba. – We’re going (into) the park today separately.
parkban – in the park (inside as location)
- Ma a parkban sétálunk. – Today we’re walking in the park.
parkhoz – to the park / to (the area of) the park (up to it, not necessarily inside)
- Csak a parkhoz megyünk, nem megyünk be. – We’re only going to the park (up to it), we’re not going in.
So:
- movement into interior → parkba
- static inside → parkban
- movement to the vicinity / up to → parkhoz
Both can be translated with alone or separately, but they are not the same.
külön – separately (from each other), not in the same group
- Ma külön megyünk a parkba. – We each go our own way, not together.
egyedül – alone, by oneself, without company
- Ma egyedül megyek a parkba. – Today I’m going to the park alone.
You can even combine them:
- Ma külön, egyedül megyünk a parkba. – Today we’re each going separately, and each of us is alone.
Yes, Ma külön-külön megyünk a parkba is correct.
- külön – separately (not together), but it can be a bit general.
- külön-külön – each one separately, one by one, strongly emphasizing that every individual goes separately.
Nuance:
Ma külön megyünk a parkba.
We’re not going as a single group; some might still go together in smaller groups.Ma külön-külön megyünk a parkba.
Each person goes on their own; it emphasizes full separation among all members.
Hungarian usually keeps the same word order and changes the intonation (rising at the end) to make a yes–no question. In writing, you just use a question mark:
- Ma külön megyünk a parkba? – Are we going separately to the park today?
You can also add ugye for a “right?” feeling:
- Ma külön megyünk a parkba, ugye? – We’re going separately to the park today, right?